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80s history

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  1. On This Day: May 19, 1984 - CBS Taped the Legendary Michael Larson Episode of Press Your Luck

    On This Day: May 19, 1984 - CBS Taped the Legendary Michael Larson Episode of Press Your Luck

    On this day May 19, 1984, CBS taped one of the most remarkable episodes in game show history when contestant Michael Larson appeared on Press Your Luck. In a display of unprecedented strategy and focus, Larson won a record breaking 110,237 dollars in cash and prizes, a feat that stunned the...
  2. On This Day: May 18, 1980 - South Korean Students Began Protesting in Gwangju for Democratic Reforms

    On This Day: May 18, 1980 - South Korean Students Began Protesting in Gwangju for Democratic Reforms

    On this day May 18, 1980, student-led protests erupted in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, demanding democratic reforms and an end to martial law. What began as a peaceful movement quickly escalated when government forces responded with violent crackdowns, leading to a major national uprising...
  3. On This Day: May 18, 1980 - Mount St. Helens Erupted in Washington State

    On This Day: May 18, 1980 - Mount St. Helens Erupted in Washington State

    On this day May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in the state of Washington in one of the most catastrophic volcanic events in United States history. The eruption occurred at 8:32 a.m. local time and resulted in the deaths of 53 people, with hundreds more injured and billions of dollars in...
  4. On This Day: May 17, 1983 - Israel Agreed to Withdraw Troops From Lebanon

    On This Day: May 17, 1983 - Israel Agreed to Withdraw Troops From Lebanon

    On this day May 17, 1983, Israel officially agreed to withdraw its troops from Lebanon following nearly a year of military occupation. The decision was part of a US brokered agreement aimed at ending hostilities and stabilizing the region after Israel's invasion on June 6, 1982. The military...
  5. On This Day: May 17, 1983 - Oak Ridge Tennessee Identified as Having the World’s Largest Mercury Pollution

    On This Day: May 17, 1983 - Oak Ridge Tennessee Identified as Having the World’s Largest Mercury Pollution

    On this day May 17, 1983, the United States Department of Energy confirmed that Oak Ridge, Tennessee had the highest levels of mercury pollution ever recorded in water anywhere in the world. The contamination was traced back to operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which began during...
  6. On This Day: May 15, 1981 - Riot Erupted at The Ritz in New York During Public Image Ltd Performance

    On This Day: May 15, 1981 - Riot Erupted at The Ritz in New York During Public Image Ltd Performance

    On this day May 15, 1981, chaos broke out at The Ritz rock club in New York City during a controversial performance by Public Image Ltd. Led by former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, the band took an experimental approach to the show that baffled and enraged the crowd. Rather than performing in...
  7. On This Day: May 15, 1988 - Soviet Army Began Withdrawal From Afghanistan After 8 Year Occupation

    On This Day: May 15, 1988 - Soviet Army Began Withdrawal From Afghanistan After 8 Year Occupation

    On this day May 15, 1988, the Soviet Union officially began withdrawing its military forces from Afghanistan, ending more than eight years of occupation in one of the most brutal and costly conflicts of the Cold War. The withdrawal started with the first wave of Soviet troops leaving the country...
  8. On This Day: May 12, 1982 - Attempted Bayonet Attack on Pope John Paul II Foiled in Portugal

    On This Day: May 12, 1982 - Attempted Bayonet Attack on Pope John Paul II Foiled in Portugal

    On this day May 12, 1982, security guards in Portugal successfully prevented an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II during a religious procession outside the Shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima. The attacker, Juan María Fernández y Krohn, a defrocked Spanish priest, tried to stab the pope...
  9. On This Day: May 11, 1985 - Bradford City Stadium Fire Claims 56 Lives

    On This Day: May 11, 1985 - Bradford City Stadium Fire Claims 56 Lives

    On May 11, 1985, tragedy struck during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City when a fire broke out at Valley Parade Stadium in Bradford, England. What began as a small flame under the wooden stands quickly turned into a massive blaze, engulfing the main stand within minutes. The fire...
  10. On This Day: May 8, 1984 - The Thames Barrier Officially Opens in London

    On This Day: May 8, 1984 - The Thames Barrier Officially Opens in London

    On May 8, 1984, the Thames Barrier was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Located downstream of central London, the massive engineering project was designed to protect the city from devastating tidal surges and flooding along the River Thames. Construction began in 1974, and the barrier...
  11. On This Day: May 8, 1980 - WHO Declares Smallpox Eradicated

    On This Day: May 8, 1980 - WHO Declares Smallpox Eradicated

    On this day May 8, 1980, the World Health Organization officially declared that smallpox had been eradicated, marking one of the greatest achievements in medical history. Once one of the deadliest diseases known to humanity, smallpox killed millions over centuries and left survivors with...
  12. On This Day: May 7, 1986 - Patrick Morrow Becomes First to Climb the Seven Summits

    On This Day: May 7, 1986 - Patrick Morrow Becomes First to Climb the Seven Summits

    On this day May 7, 1986, Canadian mountaineer Patrick Morrow made history by becoming the first person to successfully climb the Seven Summits — the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. His achievement was completed with the summit of Mount Everest, the tallest of them all. The...
  13. On This Day: May 6, 1983 - The Hitler Diaries Exposed as a Hoax

    On This Day: May 6, 1983 - The Hitler Diaries Exposed as a Hoax

    On this day May 6, 1983, the infamous Hitler Diaries were officially revealed to be a hoax. The supposed personal journals of Adolf Hitler had been published by a German magazine and gained international attention, with media outlets and historians eager to uncover their contents. Just weeks...
  14. On This Day: May 5, 1987 - Iran Contra Hearings Begin in the United States

    On This Day: May 5, 1987 - Iran Contra Hearings Begin in the United States

    On May 5, 1987, the congressional hearings into the Iran Contra affair officially began in Washington D.C., putting one of the decade’s biggest political scandals in the national spotlight. The hearings were broadcast live and investigated the covert sale of arms to Iran and the illegal...
  15. On This Day: May 5, 1985 - President Reagan Speaks at Bergen-Belsen

    On This Day: May 5, 1985 - President Reagan Speaks at Bergen-Belsen

    On May 5, 1985, President Ronald Reagan delivered a solemn speech at the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in West Germany. His visit came during a controversial trip that also included a stop at a German military cemetery in Bitburg, but at Bergen-Belsen, the tone was reverent...
  16. On This Day: May 5, 1980 - SAS Ends the Iranian Embassy Siege in London

    On This Day: May 5, 1980 - SAS Ends the Iranian Embassy Siege in London

    On May 5, 1980, British Special Air Service forces stormed the Iranian Embassy in London, ending a tense six day hostage crisis. The siege began when six armed men took 26 hostages inside the embassy, demanding autonomy for Iran’s Khuzestan Province. The standoff gripped the UK and was broadcast...
  17. On This Day: May 5, 1981 - Bobby Sands Dies After 66 Day Hunger Strike

    On This Day: May 5, 1981 - Bobby Sands Dies After 66 Day Hunger Strike

    On May 5, 1981, Bobby Sands died at the age of 27 in a prison hospital after a 66 day hunger strike. A member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, Sands was imprisoned in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison for firearms possession and became the central figure in a hunger strike protesting the...
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    • News story
    • 80s history 80s news bobby sands britain hunger strike ireland northern ireland maze prison
    • Category: On This Day in 80s News
  18. On This Day: May 2, 1986 - The City of Chernobyl Is Evacuated

    On This Day: May 2, 1986 - The City of Chernobyl Is Evacuated

    On May 2, 1986, six days after the explosion at Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the city of Chernobyl was officially evacuated. While the nearby town of Pripyat had been evacuated on April 27, the full evacuation of surrounding areas including the city of Chernobyl itself took...
  19. On This Day: May 2, 1989 - Hungary Begins Dismantling Its Border Fence With Austria

    On This Day: May 2, 1989 - Hungary Begins Dismantling Its Border Fence With Austria

    On May 2, 1989, Hungary began dismantling its border fence with Austria, a quiet but historic move that signaled the beginning of the end for the Iron Curtain. The opening allowed East Germans to cross into Austria and defect to the West, bypassing the heavily guarded Berlin Wall. This moment...
  20. On This Day: April 30, 1980 - Six Gunmen Storm the Iranian Embassy in London

    On This Day: April 30, 1980 - Six Gunmen Storm the Iranian Embassy in London

    On April 30, 1980, six armed Iranian men stormed the Iranian Embassy in London, taking twenty six people hostage. The attackers were part of a group demanding autonomy for the Khuzestan Province in Iran, and their actions quickly escalated into a major international crisis. The siege lasted for...
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