Historical Events in 1980

Events 1 - 200 of 771

• Jan 1 Chrysler UK renamed Talbot
• Jan 1 International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins

• Jan 1 Mob storms Russian embassy in Tehran
• Jan 1 Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal
• Jan 1 Sweden changes order of succession to throne
• Jan 1 Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
• Jan 1 Australian Open Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Barbara Jordan wins her first and only Grand Slam singles title; beats Sharon Walsh 6-3, 6-3
• Jan 1 66th Rose Bowl: #3 Southern California beats #1 Ohio State, 17-16
• Jan 1 46th Sugar Bowl: #2 Alabama beats #6 Arkansas, 24-9
• Jan 1 46th Orange Bowl: #5 Oklahoma beats #4 Florida State, 24-7
• Jan 2 British Steel workers go on a national strike

• Jan 3 Gold hits record $634 an ounce
• Jan 3 Babrak Karmal defends the Soviet-backed coup in first public appearance since taking power as President of Afghanistan
• Jan 6 "1940's Radio Hour" closes at St James Theater NYC after 105 performances

• Jan 6 Phil Flyers set NHL record of 35 straight games without a defeat
• Jan 6 The beginning of the first GPS epoch.
• Jan 6 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Houston Oilers, 27-13
• Jan 6 NFC Championship, Tampa Stadium: Los Angeles Rams beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-0
• Jan 7 Minn ends Philadelphia Flyers' NHL record 35 game unbeaten streak ends

• Jan 8 Islander Glenn Resch's 20th shut-out opponent-Canucks 3-0
• Jan 8 NCAA decides to sponsor women's championships in 5 sports
• Jan 9 63 beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• Jan 10 Last broadcast of "The Rockford Files" on NBC

• Jan 12 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games during a 107-96 loss at the Golden State Warriors

• Jan 13 "King of Schnorrers" closes at Playhouse Theater NYC after 63 performances
• Jan 13 Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium
• Jan 13 Togo's constitution becomes effective
• Jan 15 Pam Gems' "Piaf!" premieres in London

• Jan 17 NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
• Jan 17 A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb prematurely detonates on a passenger train near Belfast, killing three and injuring five (including the bombers)


• Jan 18 Gold reaches $1,000 an ounce

• Jan 18 Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell & Ian Schrager sentenced to 3½ years in prison for tax evasion & fined $20,000
• Jan 20 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow
• Jan 20 US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
• Jan 20 US male Figure Skating championship won by Charles Tickner
• Jan 20 Super Bowl XIV, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA: Pittsburgh Steelers beat LA Rams, 31-19; MVP: Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, QB
• Jan 21 Gold hits record $850 an ounce
• Jan 21 Les Henson, Virginia Tech, makes 89' 3" basketball field goal

• Jan 22 West Indies beat England 2-0 to win cricket's 1st World Series Cup
• Jan 25 Bani Sadr elected president of Iran
• Jan 25 Dutch government demands boycott of Olympics
• Jan 25 Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft
• Jan 25 Paul McCartney is released from Tokyo jail & deported

• Jan 26 Islanders & Whalers play a NHL penalty-free game
• Jan 26 Israel & Egypt establish diplomatic relations
• Jan 26 Mary Decker became 1st woman to run a mile in under 4½ minutes
• Jan 27 "Comin' Uptown" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 45 performances


• Jan 27 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 37-27; MVP: Chuck Muncie, New Orleans Saints, RB

• Jan 28 USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
• Jan 28 New York coach Red Holzman wins his 600th NBA game, only the second (after Red Auerbach) coach at the time to reach the plateau, as the Knicks beat Golden State, 107-103
• Jan 29 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
• Jan 29 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT

• Jan 31 Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41
• Feb 1 Sears Radio Theater moves from CBS to Mutual Broadcasting System
• Feb 1 Soap opera "Love of Life" ends a 28 year run
• Feb 1 "Call Me" single released by Blondie (Billboard Song of the Year 1980)
• Feb 2 FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors
• Feb 2 Mexican boxer Salvador Sánchez dethrones Danny “Little Red” Lopez as WBC world featherweight champion with a 13th-round TKO in Phoenix, AZ; Lopez champion since November 1976, 8th defence

• Feb 3 Mohammed Ali tours Africa as President Carter's envoy

• Feb 4 Bani Sadr sworn in as premier of Iran
• Feb 4 Studio 54 holds its grand closing party on its last night in business
• Feb 5 32nd NHL All-Star Game, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit: Wales Conference beats Campbell Conference, 6-3; MVP: Reggie Leach, Philadelphia Flyers, RW


• Feb 5 Egyptian parliament votes to end boycott of Israel

• Feb 10 Ianford Wilsons "Talley's Folly" premieres in NYC
• Feb 12 "Canterbury Tales" opens at Rialto Theater NYC for 16 performances
• Feb 12 NY Islanders 2nd scoreless tie, vs Winnipeg Jets

• Feb 13 Apollo Computer Inc incorporated
• Feb 13 NZ beats West Indies by one wicket in cricket at Dunedin
• Feb 13 XIII Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York
• Feb 14 "West Side Story" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 341 performances
• Feb 14 US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares
• Feb 14 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins first of 3 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics when he takes out 30k event; also wins relay and 50k gold
• Feb 15 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 500m in Olympic record 38.03s; first of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
• Feb 15 Wayne Gretzy assists on NHL-record-tieing 7 goals
• Feb 15 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals with victory in the 500m at Lake Placid Winter; wins 1,000m & 1,500m in Sarajevo (1984)
• Feb 15 Soviet cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina claims her 3rd of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the 5k event at Lake Placid; also wins 10k and relay gold (Innsbruck 1976) and relay (Albertville 1992)
• Feb 16 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France
• Feb 16 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 5,000m in Olympic record 7:02.29; second of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
• Feb 17 22nd Daytona 500: Buddy Baker wins ahead of Bobby Allison and Neil Bonnett


• Feb 17 Sapporo downhill silver medallist Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria goes one better with gold at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics
• Feb 17 Swedish cross-country skier Thomas Wassberg earns first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the 15k at Lake Placid; wins by 0.01s from Finland's Juha Mieto; closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing
• Feb 18 Billy Wyman said he will leave Rolling Stones in 1983 (Sure!)
• Feb 18 Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian elections
• Feb 18 30th Berlin International Film Festival: "Heartland" and "Palermo or Wolfsburg" win the Golden Bear (tie)
• Feb 18 Soviet figure skater Irina Rodnina wins her 3rd consecutive Olympic pairs title at Lake Placid; gold medals with husband Alexander Zaitsev (1976, 80) and Alexei Ulanov (1972)
• Feb 18 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins first of 2 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in women's 10k; also takes gold as part of 4 x 5k relay team
• Feb 19 Botham a century & 13 wickets in Jubilee Test Cricket at Bombay
• Feb 19 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 1,000m in Olympic record 1:15.18; third of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
• Feb 19 Washington beats Montreal, 3-1 to end the Canadiens' 34 game unbeaten streak against Capitals; Caps 0-32-2 against Montreal since entering NHL in 1974
• Feb 19 Swedish alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark wins the giant slalom from Andreas Wenzel of Liechtenstein at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; also takes slalom gold
• Feb 19 Ulrich Wehling of East Germany wins his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Nordic combined event at Lake Placid; winner Sapporo (1972), Innsbruck (1976)
• Feb 20 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 30k and 50k gold
• Feb 20 Soviet 2-time world champion team Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov win the Olympic ice dance gold medal at Lake Placid by just 0.96 from Krisztina Regőczy & András Sallay of Hungary
• Feb 21 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins 1,500m in Olympic record 1:55.44; 4th of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
• Feb 21 Liechtenstein becomes the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion as Hanni Wenzel wins the women's giant slalom at the Lake Placid Winter Games
• Feb 21 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the women's 4 x 5k relay team; also wins 10k gold
• Feb 21 British figure skater Robin Cousins wins men's singles gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; goes on to pro career, TV analysis and stage performance & production
• Feb 22 Afghanistan declares martial law

• Feb 22 Swedish World Cup and World champion Ingemar Stenmark wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, taking out the slalom; follows-on from giant slalom success
• Feb 22 Aleksandr Tikhonov of the Soviet Union earns his 4th straight gold medal as part of the 4 x 7.5k biathlon relay team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics
• Feb 22 Soviet biathlete Anatoly Alyabyev wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 7.5k relay team; also wins individual gold
• Feb 23 American speed skater Eric Heiden wins Olympic 10,000m in world record 14:28.13; sweeps all 5 speed skating events at Lake Placid; only athlete to win 5 gold medals at one Winter Games
• Feb 23 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• Feb 23 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-mil-gallon spillage
• Feb 23 Olympic giant slalom champion Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein wins the women's slalom, her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Games
• Feb 23 Soviet cross-country skier Nikolay Zimyatov wins his 3rd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics when he takes out the 50k event; also wins 30k and relay gold
• Feb 24 "Canterbury Tales" closes at Rialto Theater NYC after 16 performances
• Feb 24 Rangers score 5 power-play goals against Islanders
• Feb 24 XIII Winter Olympic Games close in Lake Placid, New York

• Feb 25 Coup ousts PM Henck Arron of Suriname
• Feb 25 British political comedy "Yes Minister" written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, starring Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds premieres on BBC Two
• Feb 26 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for 1st time
• Feb 26 Military coup under Desi Bouterse in Suriname
• Feb 26 New Zealand cricket captain Geoff Howarth 147 and Richard Hadlee 103 hold off West Indies pace quartet of Roberts, Garner, Holding and Croft during famous 2nd Test draw at Christchurch

• Feb 27 Israel & Egypt exchange ambassadors
• Feb 27 Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota


• Feb 28 "The Well-Tuned Piano" by La Monte Young premieres (takes 4 h 12 m)
• Feb 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• Feb 29 Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England
• Mar 1 Commonwealth Trade Union Council established
• Mar 1 Patti Smith & MC5 guitarist Fred Sonic Smith wed in Detroit
• Mar 1 Snow falls in Florida
• Mar 1 The US enacts the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices
• Mar 1 27th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC: Duke beats Maryland, 73-72
• Mar 1 21st SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, BJCC Coliseum, Birmingham, AL: LSU beats Kentucky, 80-78
• Mar 2 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games with a miss in the Suns' 123-115 home win over the LA Lakers
• Mar 3 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• Mar 3 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus is decommissioned

• Mar 4 Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) comes to power, winning the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, making Mugabe Zimbabwe's first black prime minister
• Mar 5 Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49

• Mar 6 Princess Theater (Latin Quarter, Cotton Club) opens at 200 W 48th NYC
• Mar 6 French Academy, founded in 1635, elects it 1st woman novelist (Marguerita Youcenar)


• Mar 8 Greg Chappell 235 & Yallop 172, for 217 stand at Faisalabad
• Mar 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 8 The first festival of rock music kicks off in the Soviet Union

• Mar 9 Flemish and Walloon battle in Belgium, 40 injured
• Mar 10 Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
• Mar 11 Rod Marsh bowls 10 overs for 51 runs in dull Aust v Pak cricket draw
• Mar 12 Jury finds John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago
• Mar 12 NY Islanders 3rd scoreless tie, vs Pittsburgh Penguin
• Mar 13 Eric Heiden skates world record 1000m (1:13.60)
• Mar 13 Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto
• Mar 13 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Dortmund won by Jan Hoffmann GDR
• Mar 13 American John Wayne Gacy receives the death sentence in Illinois for the murder of 12 people
• Mar 14 Ice Dance Championship at Dortmund West Germany won by Regoczy & Sallay
• Mar 14 Ice Pairs Championship at Dortmund won by Cherkasova & Shakhrai (USSR)
• Mar 14 Polish airliner crash kills all 87 aboard (22 are US amateur boxers)
• Mar 14 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Dortmund won by Anett Potzsch
• Mar 15 England beats Scotland, 30-18 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh to claim it's 18th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship, 8th Grand Slam and 15th Triple Crown
• Mar 18 Vostok rocket explodes on the launch pad while being refueled, killing 50
• Mar 20 The Mi Amigo ship containing England's pirate radio Caroline sinks


• Mar 20 US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran

• Mar 23 France performs nuclear test

• Mar 23 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Old Dominion beat Tennessee 68-53 at Mount Pleasant

• Mar 23 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Lee Trevino wins by 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Ben Crenshaw
• Mar 24 42nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Louisville beats UCLA, 59-54; Cardinals' first title in first title game

• Mar 24 Capitol Records releases some rare Beatles tracks on the LP "Rarites"
• Mar 26 Bombay gets its 1st rock concert in 10 years (The Police)
• Mar 27 "Happy New Year" opens at Morosco Theater NYC for 17 performances
• Mar 27 "Reggae" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 21 performances
• Mar 27 Elevator in Vaal Reefs gold mine, South Africa plunges more than 1900m killing all 23 miners aboard

• Mar 27 Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212
• Mar 29 134th Grand National: American amateur rider Charlie Fenwick wins aboard 40/1 outsider Ben Nevis; only 4 from 30 starters finish race
• Mar 30 Mark Medoff's "Children of a Lesser God" premieres in NYC
• Mar 31 Almost concurrent heavyweight boxing championship fights: Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for WBC title in Las Vegas, NV whilst Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for WBA belt in Knoxville, TN
• Mar 31 President Jimmy Carter deregulates banking industry
• Mar 31 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets due to bankruptcy and debt owed to creditors.
• Apr 1 Failed assassination attempt on Iraqi vice-premier Tariq Aziz
• Apr 1 France performs nuclear test

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