1982

A very significant year! My year! But what happened? I wonder what you know about that year. I wonder if any of the following will surprise you.

 The beginning of one of the worst droughts in Australia, part of the lead up to the Ash Wednesday fires the following year. In Australian film and television: The Man From Snowy River was released; Sons and Daughters premiered; and channels Nine, Seven and the ABC conducted stereo test transmission. Ian Thorpe was born. And one of the Melbourne Aussie Rules teams moved to Sydney, becoming the Sydney Swans. And the Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane.

And in the rest of the world...

This was also the year Prince William was born. Canada gained full political independence from the United Kingdom (while remaining part of the Commonwealth), and patriated its constitution, which included a bill of rights. Nicole won Eurovision for Germany with Ein Bisschen Frieden. Chariots of Fire won Best Picture and three other Academy Awards.

The first computer virus, written by a 15 year old, infects Apple II computers via floppy disk.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that teachers who cane, belt, or tase children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.

The Falklands War began. A Spanish priest attempted to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet in Portugal. Spain became the 16th member of NATO, the first to enter since West Germany in 1955. Spain host the FIFA World Cup.

There was a lunar eclipse, the longest one in the twentieth century. First emoticons were posted by Scott Fahlman. The first United Nations International Day of Peace. Michael Jackson released Thriller.

Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace, reaching Elizabeth II's bedroom, and had a chat with her! (2 men were arrested about a week ago for attempting to break into the palace. And now Prince Andrew has been challenged by security at the palace until they realised he really was Prince Andrew!)

Mexico announced its inability to pay its foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis in Latin America.

Time magazine's Man of the Year award was given to the computer. (First time it was given to a non-human, apparently!)

This time, rather than list some of the many deaths of the year, and considering that I have given a few of the significant births, I'll move on to the Nobel Prizes:
  • Physics: Aaron Klug
  • Chemistry: Kenneth G. Wilson
  • Medicine: Sune K. Bergström, Bengt I. Samuelsson, and John R. Vane
  • Literature: Gabriel García Márquez
  • Peace: Alva Myrdal and George Stigler
  • Economics: Alfonso García Robles

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