1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.
[edit] Events
[edit] January
- January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the Freeway Killer.
- January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself into 22 subdivisions.
- January 10 - The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2°C is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This equals the record set in the same place in 1895, and the record will be equalled again at Altnaharra in 1995.
- January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara during the Paris-Dakar rally. He is rescued January 14.
- January 11-January 17 - A brutal cold snap sends temperatures to all-time record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
- January 13 - Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78. On the same day, a Washington Metro train derails to the north, killing 3 (the system's first, and worst, fatal accident).
- January 17 - Cold Sunday sweeps over the northern United States.
- January 26 - Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland.
- January 28 - U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces after 42 days of captivity under the Red Brigades.
[edit] February
- April 2 - Falklands War begins: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
- April 4 - Falklands War: The British Falkland Islands government surrenders, placing the islands in Argentinean control.
- April 6 - A blizzard unprecedented in size for April dumps 1-2 feet of snow on the northeastern U.S., closing schools and businesses, snarling traffic, and canceling several major league baseball games.
- April 17 - By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada repatriates its constitution, granting full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
- April 23 - Dennis Wardlow, Mayor of Key West, Florida, declares the independent Conch Republic for a day.
- April 24 - The German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 for Germany, with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden.
- April 25 - Israel completes withdrawing from the Sinai peninsula per the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
- May 1 - Falklands War: A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber takes off from Ascension Island and bombs Stanley Airport.
- May 2 - Falklands War: The nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano.
- May 2 - The Weather Channel airs on cable television for the first time.
- May 5 - A Unabomber bomb explodes in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University; secretary Janet Smith is injured.
- May 12 - Spanish priest Juan Hernandes tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the Fatima, Portugal shrine.
- May 21 - Falklands War: Royal Marines and paratroopers from the British Task Force land at San Carlos Bay on the Falkland Islands and raise the Union Jack.
- May 23 - Falklands War - HMS Antelope of the Royal Navy explodes.
- May 24 - Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.
- May 26 - Kielder Water, an artificial lake in Northumberland, is opened.
- May 27 - Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup beating QPR 1-0 in a replay.
- May 28 - British troops reach Darwin, Falkland Islands.
- May 29 - Falklands War: In the Battle of Goose Green, British paratroopers defeat a larger force of Argentine troops in the first land battle of the war.
- May 30 - Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
- May 30 - Indianapolis 500: In what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history, 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds, the closest finish to that date, after Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps.
- May 30 - Cal Ripken starts the first game of what will eventually become his record-breaking consecutive games played streak of 2,632.
- May 31 - Falklands War: The Battle of Stanley is fought.
- June 5 - The first Rubik's Cube World Championships is held in Budapest, Hungary.
- June 6 - The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
- June 6 - The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
- June 8 - President Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.
- June 12 - A rally against nuclear weapons draws 75,000 to New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt attend.
- June 13 - In Alberta, Canada 15 members of the Black Leopards Karate Club demolish a house with bare hands and feet with the owner's consent.
- June 13 - The 1982 FIFA World Cup is opened.
- June 13 - Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
- June 14 - The Falklands War ends: British forces reach the outskirts of Stanley after "yomping" across East Falkland from San Carlos Bay. They arrive to find the Argentine forces flying white flags of surrender. A formal surrender is agreed that day.
- June 18 - Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns, in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War.
- June 19 - The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
- June 21 - Prince William is born at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London.
- June 22 - A British Airways Boeing 747 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane, after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Galunggung.
- June 25 - The Institute for Puerto Rican Policy is founded in New York City to research and advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino community issues. In 2006, it changes it name to the National Institute for Latino Policy.
- June 30 - The Equal Rights Amendment falls short of the 38 states needed to pass; Phyllis Schlafly and other leaders of the Religious Right take credit for its defeat.
- July 2 - Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry, flies 16,000 feet above Long Beach, California in lawn chair with weather balloons attached.
- July 4 - Four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped upon Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
- July 9 - A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.
- July 9 - Intruder Michael Fagan visits Queen Elizabeth II in her bedroom for a chat.
- July 11 - Italy beats West Germany 3-1 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
- July 16 - In New York City, The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
- July 20 - The Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.
- July 21 - HMS Hermes, the Royal Navy flagship during the Falklands War, returns home to Portsmouth to a hero's welcome.
- July 23 - The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985-1986.
[edit] August
[edit] September
