World Events in 1986
This is a list of events that occurred around the world during 1986.
Some caused big changes in world thought,
some jog our memories of a different time, and some just make you go hmmmm....
January - March
- January 19 - The first PC virus, Brain, starts to spread.
- January 20 - The first federal Martin Luther King Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.
- January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard dies, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911).
- January 26 - The Chicago Bears win Super Bowl XX beating New England Patriots 46-10.
- January 28 - The spaceshuttle Challenger explodes. All seven astronauts onboard die.
- February 25 - Election of Corazon Aquino ends corrupt Marcos regime in the Philippines. "Win or lose, we go shopping after the election." - Imelda Marcos.
- February 27 - Nicole Linkletter born, America's Next Top Model winner, cycle 5.
- March 30 - James Cagney dies, American actor (b. 1899).
April - June
- April 5 - 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discotheque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
- April 17 - The Hindawi Affair begins when an Irishwoman is found unknowingly carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.
- April 17 - John McCarthy, a British journalist was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad. Remained in captivity for a staggering 5.5 years.
- April 21 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, discovering only a bottle of moonshine.
- April 26 - Worst nuclear disaster ever in Chernobyl, USSR.
- April 27 - "Captain Midnight" interrupts HBO satellite feed.
- May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada opens.
- May 25 - Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
- June 8 - The Boston Celtics won the 1986 NBA Championship beating the Houston Rockets 114-97 (4-2).
- June 13 - Benny Goodman dies, American jazz musician (b. 1909).
- June 13 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen born, American actresses and entrepreneurs.
- June 13 - Kaynor Tech Class of 1986 Senior Prom.
- June 19th - Len Bias, a first round pick by the Celtics, died of a cocaine overdose.
- June 29 - Argentina defeats West Germany 3-2 to win the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
July - September
- July 2 - Lindsay Lohan born, American actress and singer.
- July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.
- July 14- Spongebob Squarepants born, Fictional TV character.
- July 23 - In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
- August 6 - In Louisville, Kentucky, William Schroeder, the second person to receive an artificial heart, dies after 620 days.
- August 19 - Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.
- August 20 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
- August 21 - In Nyos, Cameroon, a cloud of carbon dioxide rumbled out of the nearby lake Nyos and killed approximently 1,700 people.
- September 7 - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.
- September 8 - "A.M. Chicago" changes its name to the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and goes national.
- September 27 - British pop group Five Star top the charts with their million plus selling album Silk And Steel, which later went on to yield a record total of seven single releases (which was bettered by Michael Jackson's eighth single release from Bad in 1989).
- September 27 - A tour bus carrying heavy metal band Metallica crashes in Sweden, killing their bassist, Cliff Burton.
October - December
- October 9 - British actor/singer Michael Crawford is made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen, as well as receiving his second Olivier Award (Best Actor in a Musical) for The Phantom of the Opera.
- October 9 - News Corporation complete their take over the Metromedia group of companies, launching Fox Broadcasting Company.
- October 14 - Eliezer Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize, a Romania-born American novelist, political activist, and Holocaust survivor of Hungarian Jewish descent.
- October 27 - The New York Mets win the Major League Baseball World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox in 7 games.
- October 28 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
- November 3 - Iran Contra Scandal is reported in a Lebanese magazine.
- November 18 - Supermodel Gia, after years of heroin addiction, dies of AIDS. She is the first woman to sucumb to the AIDS virus in the US.
- November 22 - Scatman Crothers dies, American actor, musician (b. 1910).
- November 22 - Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
- November 29 - Cary Grant dies, British actor (b. 1904).
- December 20 - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
Undated/Multi-dated Events and Things of Interest
- Return of Halley's Comet - The ill-fated spaceshuttle Challenger was to be one of two NASA missions to study the comet from a low-Earth orbit.
- Turner Broadcasting begins to colorize black and white classics.