What Happened in 1985

Significant Events

  • Jan 3 Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
  • Jan 31 South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
  • Mar 11 Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader
  • Jul 10 French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.
  • Jul 13 "Live Aid" concerts held at both Wembley Stadium (London) and John F. Kennedy Stadium (Philadelphia) raises over $70 million for African famine relief
  • Sep 19 8.1 earthquake in Mexico City kills an estimated 10,000 and leaves 250,000 homeless
  • Nov 13 Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, killing 25,000 in the town of Armero
  • Nov 19 US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for first time
More Historical Events

1985 in Film & TV

  • Nov 11 1st AIDS theme TV movie - "An Early Frost" screens in US on NBC

1985 in Music

  • Jan 28 Charity single "We Are the World" is recorded by supergroup USA for Africa (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and other pop stars)

1985 in Sport

  • Sep 11 Sri Lanka score their 1st Test Cricket victory, by 149 runs v India
  • Nov 9 Gary Kasparov becomes the youngest ever world chess champion (22), with a 13-11 win over fellow Russian Anatoly Karpov

Did You Know?

The first Internet domain name, symbolics.com is registered

On March 15, 1985


World Leaders in 1985

Famous People in 1985

Famous People Born in 1985

More Famous Birthdays

Famous Weddings

Famous Divorces

  • Jan 7 Actress-singer Janet Jackson (18) divorces fellow R&B singer James DeBarge (21) only 4 months after getting married
  • Feb 4 Professional boxer George Foreman (35) divorces Andrea Skeete after almost 3 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces

Famous Deaths

More Famous Deaths