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
1985 in Film & TV
- Mar 3 "Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the US
- Mar 18 Capital Cities Communications Inc acquires ABC for $3.5 billion, first transfer of ownership of a TV network
- 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)
- Apr 18 Wham become the first western pop act to release an album in China
1985 in Sport
- Jun 5 Steve Cauthen wins aboard Slip Anchor at Epsom Downs to become the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby (1978) and The Derby
- 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
World Leaders in 1985
Deng Xiaoping
Paramount Leader of China
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet General Secretary
Ronald Reagan
US President & Actor
Famous People in 1985
Geraldine Page
Oscar for Best Actress
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Sportsperson
of the Year
Lionel Richie
Grammy for Album of the Year
Bruno Mars
Carly Rae Jepsen
Cristiano Ronaldo
Emile Hirsch
Keira Knightley
Michael PhelpsFamous Weddings
- Jan 5 Baseball player Darryl Strawberry (22) weds Lisa Andrews
- Jan 5 NFL football player Reggie White (23) weds Sara Copeland
- Jan 22 Zak Starkey (Ringo's son) marries Sarah Menikides
- Jan 30 NFL Quarterback Dan Marino (23) weds Claire Veazey at St. Regis Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania
- Feb 2 NFL Footballer and felon O.J. Simpson marries 2nd wife Nicole Brown (murdered 1994)
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
E. B. White
Margaret Hamilton
Orson Welles
Roger Maris
Simone Signoret
Yul Brynner