| January 1 | Actress Judith Licht (Who's the Boss) marries Robert Desiderio (One Life to Live) |
| January 1 | International Youth Year begins |
| January 1 | US's 1st manadatory seat belt law goes into effect (NY) |
| January 1 | VH-1 made its broadcasting debut |
| January 2 | 90th hat trick in Islander history-Brent Sutter |
| January 2 | Australia beat WI by innings at SCG, Bob Holland 10 match wkts |
| January 2 | Egyptian President Mubarak reappoints Coptic pope Shenuda III |
| January 2 | Nevada-Las Vegas beats Utah 142-140, highest college basketball score |
| January 2 | Undefeated BYU becomes college football champions |
| January 3 | Azharuddin scores 110 in 1st Test innings |
| January 3 | Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews |
| January 5 | Bryan Trottier failed on 9th Islander penalty shot |
| January 5 | Discovery moves to launch pad for STS-51-C mission |
| January 7 | Japanese space probe Sakigake launched to Halley's comet |
| January 7 | KHQ-AM in Spokane WA changes call letters to KLSN (now KAQQ) |
| January 7 | "King and I" opens at Broadway Theater New York City for 191 performances |
| January 7 | Lou Brock and Hoyt Wilhelm, elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame |
| January 8 | Japan launches Sakigake space probe to Halley's Comet |
| January 9 | Flames set NHL record 264th regular season game without being shut-out |
| January 10 | Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as president of Nicaragua |
| January 13 | 23rd Tennis Fed Cup: Czechoslovakia beats USA in Nagoya Japan (2-1) |
| January 13 | 99-yr-old Otto Bucher scores a hole-in-one at Spanish golf course |
| January 13 | Blackhawk Doug Wilson failed on 12th penalty shot against Islanders |
| January 13 | Cerberal Palsy telethon raises $17,1000,000 |
| January 13 | Express train derails in Ethiopia, kills at least 428 |
| January 14 | 16 indicted by U.S. for granting sanctuary to Central American refugees |
| January 14 | M Navratilova is 3rd to win 100 tennis tournaments (Connors and Evert) |
| January 15 | Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery and Fred Chapell |
| January 15 | Civil rights activist Tancredo Neves elected president |
| January 15 | Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler both scores 200's vs. India |
| January 15 | Tancredo Neves becomes 1st elected president of Brazil in 21 years |
| January 16 | "Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds |
| January 17 | Azharuddin scores second Test century in second Test (v England) |
| January 18 | U.S. renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise |
| January 19 | 4 die in a car and train crash in Buda Ill |
| January 19 | "Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen peaked at #9 |
| January 20 | Cold front strikes U.S., at least 40 die (-27 degrees F (-33 degrees C) in Chicago) |
| January 20 | Superbowl XIX: San Francisco 49ers beat Miami Dolphins, 38-16 in Stanford Superbowl MVP: Joe Montana, San Francisco, quarterback |
| January 21 | -19 degrees F (-28 degrees C), Caesar's Head, South Carolina (state record) |
| January 21 | -34 degrees F (-37 degrees C), Mount Mitchell, North Carolina (state record) |
| January 21 | Bomb attack on Borobudur temple in Java |
| January 21 | Dennis Potvin ties Bobby Orr's career record of 270 NHL goals |
| January 22 | -30 degrees F (-34 degrees C), Mountain Lake Bio Station, Virginia (state record) |
| January 22 | Cold wave damages 90 percent of Florida's citrus crop |
| January 22 | Kelly Hu, 16, of Hawaii, crowned 3rd Miss Teen USA |
| January 22 | Zak Starkey (Ringo's son) marries Sarah Menikides |
| January 23 | Britains House of Lords debate 1st televised |
| January 24 | 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched |
| January 25 | "Black and Blue," premieres in Paris |
| January 25 | Test debut of Wasim Akram, vs. New Zealand at Auckland (2-105) |
| January 25 | "We are the World" is recorded by Pop stars in Los Angeles |
| January 26 | 42th Golden Globes: Amadeus wins |
| January 26 | Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores 50th goal in 49th game of season |
| January 27 | 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth |
| January 27 | "Doug Henning and His World..." closes at Lunt-Fontanne New York after 60 perf |
| January 27 | Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Mazda Golf Classic |
| January 27 | Mark Mckoy cycles world record 50m hurdles indoor (5.25) |
| January 27 | NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 22-14 |
| January 28 | 12th American Music Award |
| January 29 | Jari Kurri of Edmonton Oilers scores 100th pt of season in game 39 |
| January 31 | "Harrigan 'n Hart" opens at Longacre Theater New York City for 5 performances |
| January 31 | South Africa President PW Botha offers to free Mandela if he denounces violence |
| February 1 | -61 degrees F (-52 degrees C), Maybell, Colorado (state record) |
| February 1 | -69 degrees F (-56 degrees C), Peter's Sink, Utah (state record) |
| February 1 | Azharuddin scores 3rd Test century in 3rd Test Cricket (122 vs. Eng) |
| February 1 | Cards trade D Green, Jose Uribe, Dave LaPoint to Giants for Jack Clark |
| February 1 | U.S. Female Figure Skating championship won by Tiffany Chin |
| February 2 | U.S. Male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano |
| February 3 | "Harrigan 'n Hart" closes at Longacre Theater New York City after 5 performances |
| February 3 | Joanne Carner wins LPGA Elizabeth Arden Golf Classic |
| February 4 | 20 countries (but not U.S.) sign United Nations treaty outlawing torture |
| February 4 | Naval exercises canceled when U.S. refuses to tell New Zealand of nuclear weapons |
| February 7 | Marshall U's Bruce Morris scores a basket from 92'5" |
| February 7 | New York Devil Don Lever becomes 57th NHLer to score 300 goals |
| February 7 | "New York, New York" became the official anthem of New York City |
| February 8 | 1st-class cricket debut of Jimmy Adams (age 17), Jamaica vs. Barbados |
| February 8 | Bruce Morris, Marshall University, makes a 92' 5" basketball shot |
| February 8 | Michael Gross swims world record 800m freestyle (7:38.75) |
| February 8 | Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung returns to South-Korea |
| February 9 | Madonna's "Like a Virgin," album goes #1 for 3 weeks |
| February 10 | 35th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 140-129 at Indiana |
| February 10 | Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-E mission |
| February 10 | Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic |
| February 10 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| February 11 | Jordan king Hussein and PLO leader Arafat sign accord |
| February 11 | Kent Hrbek signs 5-year, $6 million contract with Minnesota Twins |
| February 11 | Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his 2nd Test Cricket, New Zealand still wins |
| February 12 | 37th NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 6-4 at Calgary |
| February 12 | West Indies beat Australia 2-1 to win cricket World Series Cup |
| February 13 | Dow Jones closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier |
| February 13 | Polish police arrests 7 Solidarity leaders |
| February 14 | Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut |
| February 15 | STS-51-E vehicle moves to launch pad |
| February 15 | World chess championship match abandoned-Karpov 25, Kasparov 23 |
| February 16 | Largest NBA crowd to date, 43,816, sees Philadelphia at Detroit |
| February 16 | Livingston Bramble defeats Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini to win WBA champ |
| February 16 | New Jersey Devils score their fastest hat trick in 42 seconds |
| February 17 | 1st class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents |
| February 17 | 1st day/night game at the MCG, Australia vs. England |
| February 17 | 3rd person to receive an artificial heart (Murray Haydon) |
| February 17 | Hein Vergeer becomes world champion skater |
| February 17 | Laffit Pincay, Jr. is third to ride 6,000th winners at Santa Anita |
| February 19 | 150 killed when a Spanish jetliner crashed approaching Bilbao, Spain |
| February 19 | ADM of Amsterdam declares bankruptcy |
| February 19 | Canned and bottled Cherry Coke introduced by Coca-Cola |
| February 19 | Mickey Mouse welcomed in China |
| February 19 | William Schroeder is 1st artificial heart patient to leave hospital He spent 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky |
| February 20 | After defending his WBC flyweight championship, Sot Chitalada's check for $104,000 is stolen by a ringside pickpocket |
| February 21 | Evert van Benthem wins 13th Friese 11 city skateing race |
| February 21 | Largest NBA crowd to date 44,970 (Atlanta at Detroit) |
| February 21 | Tim Raines is awarded a $12 million salary for 1985 by arbitrator |
| February 23 | Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight throws a chair during a game |
| February 23 | U.S. Senate confirms Edwin Meese III as attorney general |
| February 24 | Amy Alcott wins LPGA Circle K Golf Open Tucson |
| February 24 | Birendra, Bir Bikram Shah Dev crowned King of Nepal |
| February 24 | Jim Kelly (Houston USFL) passes for pro football record 574 yards |
| February 24 | Yul Brynner reprised his role in "The King and I" |
| February 26 | 27th Grammy Awards: Whats Love Got to Do With It, Cyndi Lauper wins |
| February 27 | Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief |
| February 27 | Mauritania's new constitutional charter published |
| March 1 | Liza Minnelli enters Betty Ford Drug Center |
| March 1 | Milwaukee businessman Herb Kohl purchases the Milwaukee Bucks |
| March 1 | Pentagon accepts theory that atomic war would cause a nuclear winter |
| March 2 | U.S. approves screening test for AIDS |
| March 3 | Betsy King wins LPGA Samaritan Turquoise Golf Classic |
| March 3 | Bill (Willie) Shoemaker is 1st jockey to surpass $100 million |
| March 3 | "Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis, premieres |
| March 3 | "My One and Only" closes at St. James Theater New York City after 767 performances |
| March 3 | National Union of Mine Workers in England end a 51 week strike |
| March 4 | STS-51-E vehicle rolls back to Vandenberg AFB; mission cancelled |
| March 4 | Virtual ban on leaded gas ordered by EPA |
| March 4 | War veterans returned to the "Bridge over the River Kwai" |
| March 5 | New York Islander Mike Bossy is 1st to score 50 goals in 8 straight seasons |
| March 6 | Enos Slaughter and Arky Vaughan are elected to baseball Hall of Fame |
| March 6 | Mexican authorities find body of U.S. drug agent Enrique C. Salaazar |
| March 6 | Mike Tyson KOs Hector Mercedes in 1 round in his 1st pro fight |
| March 6 | Yul Brynner appears in his 4,500th performance of "King and I" |
| March 7 | IBM-PC DOS Version 3.1 update released |
| March 8 | Ice Dance Championship at Tokyo won by Bestemianova and Bukin (URS) |
| March 9 | Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Katarina Witt (GDR) |
| March 9 | Laura Johnson (Falcon Crest) and Harry Hamlin (LA Law) wed |
| March 10 | Bonnie Lauer wins Uniden LPGA Golf Invitational |
| March 10 | Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games |
| March 10 | French socialists lose election (National Front 9%) |
| March 10 | Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova and O Vasiliev (URS) |
| March 10 | India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket" |
| March 10 | Mens Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS) |
| March 11 | Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader |
| March 12 | Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points |
| March 13 | Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko (Moscow) |
| March 13 | Michael Secrest (U.S.) begins 24-hour ride of 516 miles, 427 yards |
| March 14 | 11th People's Choice Awards: Bill Cosby wins 4 awards |
| March 14 | Michael Secrest (U.S.) completes 24-hour ride of 516 miles, 427 yards |
| March 15 | Larry Holmes TKOs David Bey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title |
| March 15 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| March 16 | Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut |
| March 16 | Denny McLain, pitcher; convicted of racketeering, sentenced to 25 yrs |
| March 17 | Jane Blalock wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open |
| March 17 | Matti Nykanen of Finland set a world ski jump record of 623' |
| March 18 | Capital Cities Communications Inc. acquires ABC |
| March 18 | Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle |
| March 19 | NSW wins cricket Sheffield Shield by beating Queensland by 1 wicket |
| March 19 | Senate votes 55-45, to authorize production of the MX missile |
| March 19 | "Spin Magazine" begins publishing |
| March 20 | Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race |
| March 21 | Arthur Ashe is named to International Tennis Hall of Fame |
| March 21 | Bloodbath at Langa (Uitenhage) South Africa, 19 killed |
| March 22 | NASA launches Intelsat VA |
| March 23 | Billy Joel weds supermodel Christie Brinkley |
| March 23 | Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-D mission |
| March 23 | Julian Lennon's 1st concert (San Antonio Texas) |
| March 23 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| March 24 | 5th Golden Raspberry Awards: Bolero wins |
| March 24 | Golden Raspberry Awards presented to parody Oscar Awards (Bolero wins) |
| March 24 | Jan Stephenson wins LPGA GNA Golf Classic |
| March 24 | Norman Gifford makes cricket ODI debuts at age 44 (v Australia, Sharjah) |
| March 25 | 57th Academy Awards - "Amadeus," F Murray Abraham and Sally Field win |
| March 25 | Edwin Meese III becomes U.S. Attorney General |
| March 27 | Billy Dee Williams receives a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame |
| March 28 | International Cometary Explorer measures solar wind ahead of Halley |
| March 28 | Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues," premieres in New York City |
| March 28 | STS-51-D vehicle moves to launch pad |
| March 29 | Christos Sartzetakis elected president of Greece |
| March 29 | Wayne Gretzky breaks own NHL season record with 126th assist |
| March 31 | 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000 |
| March 31 | 4th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Old Dominion beats Georgia 70-65 |
| March 31 | El Salvador's President Duartes Christian-Democrats win election |
| March 31 | Wrestlemania I at MSG NY, Hogan and Mr. T beat Piper and Orndorf |
| April 1 | 47th NCAA Men's Basketball Champion: Villanova beats Georgetown 84-75 |
| April 2 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| April 3 | French government adopts equal electoral system |
| April 3 | Players' Association agrees to expand LCS from 5 to 7 games |
| April 3 | Vic Elliot pocketed 15,780 pool balls in 24 hours in London |
| April 4 | Tulane University cancels its basketball season amidst scandal |
| April 6 | Atlantis (OV-104) rollout at Palmdale |
| April 6 | Bombay beat Delhi by 90 runs to win the Ranji Trophy final |
| April 6 | Sudan suspends constitution after coup under general Swarreddahab |
| April 6 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| April 7 | 14th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Alice Miller |
| April 7 | 1st live telecast of Easter Parade |
| April 7 | New Jersey General Hershel Walker runs for USFL record 233 yards |
| April 8 | Amdahl releases UTS/V, 1st mainframe Unix |
| April 8 | India files suit against Union Carbide over Bhopal disaster |
| April 8 | "Leader of the Pack" opens at Ambassador Theater New York City for 120 performances |
| April 9 | White Sox pitcher Tom Seaver starts a record 15th opening day game |
| April 10 | At 80 Leo Sites becomes oldest bowler to score a 300 game |
| April 10 | Caps 4-Isles 3 (OT)-Patrick Division Semifinals-Caps hold 1-0 lead |
| April 10 | Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-B mission |
| April 11 | Caps 2-Isles 1 (OT)-Patrick Div Semifinals- Caps hold 2-0 lead |
| April 12 | 16th Shuttle Mission (51D)-Discovery 4 launched-with Senator Jake Garn |
| April 12 | U.S. Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of Moscow games |
| April 13 | Atlantis ferried to Kennedy Space Center via Ellington AFB, Texas |
| April 13 | Caps 1-Isles 2-Patrick Div Semifinals- Caps hold 2-1 lead |
| April 13 | Katrin Dorre wins 1st female World Cup marathon (2:33:30) |
| April 13 | Ramiz Alia succeeds Enver Hoxha as party leader of Albania |
| April 13 | "TASS" denounced U.S. boycott of Moscow Olympics |
| April 14 | 49th Golf Masters Championship: Bernhard Langer wins, shooting a 282 |
| April 14 | Ahmed Salah wins 1st World Cup marathon (2:08:09) |
| April 14 | Alan Garcia wins elections in Peru |
| April 14 | Beth Daniel wins LPGA Kyocera Inamori Golf Classic |
| April 14 | Bob Carpenter is unsuccessful on Washington Caps 1st playoff penalty shot |
| April 14 | Caps 4-Isles 6-Patrick Div Semifinals-Series tied at 2-2 |
| April 14 | Jack C Burcham is 5th to receive "Jarvik 7" permanent artificial heart |
| April 14 | "Take Me Along!" opens/closes at Martin Beck Theater New York City |
| April 15 | 14th Boston Women's Marathon won by Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 2:34:06 |
| April 15 | 89th Boston Marathon won by Geoff Smith of Great Britain in 2:14:05 |
| April 15 | Challenger moves to launch pad for 51-B mission |
| April 15 | South Africa will repeal sex and marriage laws against whites and non-whites |
| April 16 | Caps 1-Isles 2-Patrick Div Semifinals-Isle win series 3-2 |
| April 16 | "Grind" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater New York City for 79 performances |
| April 18 | Flyers 3-Isles 0-Patrick Div Finals-Flyers hold 1-0 lead |
| April 19 | 16th Space Shuttle Mission (51-D)-Discovery 4 returns to Earth |
| April 19 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| April 20 | Carlos Lopes runs world record marathon (2:07:12) |
| April 20 | Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Mark Williams |
| April 20 | Karyn Marshall of New York City lifted 303 lbs in a clean and jerk lift |
| April 21 | Bomb attacks in NATO/AEG-Telefunken building in Brussels |
| April 21 | Flyers 5-Isles 2-Patrick Div Finals-Flyers hold 2-0 lead |
| April 21 | Ingrid Kristiansen wins London Marathon in a record 2:21:06 |
| April 21 | Patty Sheehan wins LPGA J&B Scotch Pro-Am Golf Tournament |
| April 23 | Brooklyn College soccer team wins Nepal's invitational |
| April 23 | Coca-Cola announced it is changing its secret flavor formula |
| April 23 | Flyers 5-Isles 3-Patrick Div Finals-Flyers hold 3-0 lead |
| April 23 | New Coke debuts |
| April 24 | Pulitzer prize awarded to Carolyn Lizer for "Yin" |
| April 25 | "Big River" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater New York City for 1005 performances |
| April 25 | Flyers 2-Isles 6-Patrick Div Finals-Flyers hold 3-1 lead |
| April 25 | For 2nd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 goals in a Cup game |
| April 25 | Roger Miller's musical "Big River," premieres in New York City |
| April 25 | West German Parliament ruled it illegal to deny the holocaust |
| April 28 | Alice Miller wins LPGA S&H Golf Classic |
| April 28 | Billy Martin named New York Yankee manager for 4th time |
| April 28 | Fernando Valenzuela sets record of 41 scoreless inn to start season |
| April 29 | 17th space shuttle mission (51-B)-Challenger 7 launched |
| April 29 | Ranger Larry Parrish is 5th to hit 3 home runs in a game in both leagues |
| April 29 | Tony Tubbs TKOs Greg Page in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
| April 30 | Dale Murphy drives in record tying 28th and 29th runs of April |
| April 30 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| April 30 | Last edition of Brink Daily Mail/Sunday Express in South Africa |
| May 1 | "Communist" bomb attack kills 2 firemen in Brussels |
| May 1 | U.S. president Reagan ends embargo against Nicaragua |
| May 1 | William Hoffman's "As Is," premieres in New York City |
| May 2 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| May 4 | 111th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero, Jr. on Spend A Buck wins 2:00.2 |
| May 5 | Amy Alcott wins LPGA Moss Creek Women's Golf Invitational |
| May 6 | 17th Space Shuttle Mission (51-B)-Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB |
| May 8 | 20th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama and Judds win |
| May 8 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| May 10 | Challenger transports back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB |
| May 11 | 40 die and 150 injured in fire at Bradford City football ground |
| May 11 | Booby trap bomb kills 86 people in India |
| May 11 | Dave Concepcion becomes 4th Cincinnati Red teammate to get 2,000 hits, others include Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Cesar Cedeno |
| May 11 | Madonna's "Crazy For You," single goes #1 |
| May 11 | Pope John Paul II arrives in Netherlands |
| May 11 | Soccer stadium in Bradford England catches fire; 53 die |
| May 12 | Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as 1st woman Conservative rabbi |
| May 12 | Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA United Virginia Bank Golf Classic |
| May 13 | Carlton Fisk becomes 5th catcher to steal 100 bases |
| May 13 | Laura Elena Martinez-Herring, 21, (Texas), crowned 34th Miss USA |
| May 13 | Philadelphia Police bomb a house held by group "Move," kills 11 |
| May 15 | Everton wins 25th Europe Cup II at Rotterdam |
| May 16 | Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year |
| May 16 | Pope John Paul II arrives in Belgium |
| May 17 | Les Anderson, catches record 97 lb 4 oz Chinook Salmon, off Alaska |
| May 18 | 111th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Tank's Prospect wins in 1:53.4 |
| May 18 | 1st remote location for "Nightline" (South Africa) |
| May 18 | "One Night In Bangkok" by Murray Head hits #3 |
| May 19 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Golf Classic |
| May 20 | 1150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners exchanged for 3 Israelis |
| May 20 | Dow Jones industrial avg closes above 1300 for 1st time |
| May 20 | FBI arrests John A Walker, Jr., convicted of spying for U.S.S.R. |
| May 20 | Indians-Brewers game at Cleveland Stadium is 1st rain-out of 1985, ends record string of 458 ML games since Opening Day without a rain-out |
| May 20 | Larry Holmes beats Carl Williams in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
| May 20 | U.S. began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti |
| May 22 | Pete Rose 2,108th run passes Hank Aaron as NL run scoring leader |
| May 22 | Real Madrid wins 14th UEFA Cup at Madrid |
| May 22 | U.S. sailor Michael L. Walker arrested for spying for U.S.S.R. |
| May 24 | "View to a Kill" premieres in US |
| May 25 | Allan Border scores 4th successive 1st class 100 (v Derbyshire) |
| May 25 | Cyclone ravages Bangladesh; 11,000 killed |
| May 26 | Danny Sullivan wins Indy 500 by 24 seconds following a spin |
| May 26 | Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die |
| May 26 | Patti Rizzo wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic |
| May 27 | Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 |
| May 27 | Inaugural bands parade for President Reagan |
| May 28 | David Jacobsen taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon |
| May 28 | Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-G |
| May 29 | Juventus wins 30th Europe Cup 1 in Brussels, 39 die in riot |
| May 30 | Stanley Cup: Edmonton Oilers beat Philadelphia Flyers, 4 games to 1 |
| May 31 | 41 tornadoes hit Northeast U.S., killing 88 |
| May 31 | Guatemala adopts constitution |
| May 31 | New Orleans Saints are sold for $70,204,000 |
| May 31 | Tornados in Penn, Ohio, New York and Canada kill 88 and injured more than 1,000 |
| June 1 | "Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" by David Lee Roth hits #12 |
| June 1 | Viv Richards scores 300 in a day on the way to 322 vs. Warwicks cricket |
| June 1 | Weird Al Yankovic released his Dare To Be Stupid LP |
| June 2 | 31st LPGA Championship won by Nancy Lopez |
| June 2 | 39th Tony Awards: Biloxi Blues and Big River win |
| June 2 | Andreas Papandreous PASOK-party wins election in Greece |
| June 2 | RJ Reynolds Company proposed a merger with Nabisco |
| June 3 | Brewers draft B J Surhoff #1 |
| June 3 | Massive anti-ETA demonstration in Basques |
| June 4 | STS-51-G vehicle moves to launch pad |
| June 4 | Supreme Court strikes down Alabama "moment of silence" law |
| June 6 | 55th French Womens Tennis: Chris Evert beats Navratilova (63 67 75) |
| June 6 | 58th National Spelling Bee: Balu Natarajan wins spelling milieu |
| June 6 | Body of Nazi criminal, Dr. Josef Mengele located and exhumed |
| June 6 | Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts "status" of Aruba |
| June 6 | Soyuz T-13 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station |
| June 8 | 117th Belmont: Eddie Maple aboard Creme Fraiche wins in 2:27 |
| June 8 | Pirates score 10 in top of 1st, but lose 15-11 to Phillies, as Steve becomes 1st Phillie to switch hit home runs in same game |
| June 9 | 39th NBA Championship: Los Angeles Lakers beat Boston Celtics, 4 games to 2 |
| June 9 | 55th French Mens Tennis: Mats Wilander beats Ivan Lendl (36 64 62 62) |
| June 9 | Alice Miller wins LPGA McDonald's Golf Championship |
| June 9 | American Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped and held hostage in Lebanon |
| June 9 | Bernard Hinault wins Tour de France |
| June 9 | U.S.S.R.'s Vega 1 deposits lander on surface of Venus |
| June 10 | 19th Music City News Country Awards: Statler Brothers, B Mandrell |
| June 10 | Claus von Bulow acquitted on charges he tried to murder his wife |
| June 10 | Coca Cola announces they'd bring back their 99-year-old formula |
| June 10 | French agents blow up Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior near New Zealand |
| June 11 | Russian space probe Vega 1 lands on Venus |
| June 11 | Von Hayes becomes 21st to hit 2 home runs in an inning (Phils-26, Mets-7) |
| June 11 | WJW-AM/TV in Cleveland Ohio change call letters to WRMR |
| June 14 | Earl Weaver comes out of retirement to manage Baltimore Orioles |
| June 14 | Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists hijacked TWA Flight 847 |
| June 14 | "Michael Nesmith In Television Parts" premieres on NBC-TV |
| June 15 | En route to Halley's Comet, U.S.S.R.'s Vega 2 drops lander on Venus |
| June 15 | Pinklon Thomas KOs Mike Weaver in 8 for heavyweight boxing title |
| June 15 | "Pryor's Place," children show last airs on CBS-TV |
| June 15 | Russian space probe Vega 2 lands on Venus |
| June 16 | 85th U.S. Golf Open: Andy North shoots a 279 at Oakland Hills CC Michigan |
| June 16 | Pat Bradley wins LPGA Rochester Golf International |
| June 16 | T. C. Chen, ahead by 4 strokes in final round of U.S. Open |
| June 16 | Willie Banks of USA sets triple jump record (58'11 ") in Indianapolis quadruple bogies 5th hole and never recovers |
| June 17 | 18th Space Shuttle Mission (51-G)-Discovery 5 launched |
| June 18 | Boston Red Sox Fred Lynn gets 10 RBIs |
| June 19 | Reggie Jackson hits his 513th home run to move into 10th place |
| June 21 | American, Brazilian and West German forensic pathologists confirm skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele |
| June 22 | "Grind" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater New York City after 79 performances |
| June 22 | "Smuggler's Blues" by Glenn Frey peaks at #12 |
| June 23 | Alice Miller wins LPGA Mayflower Golf Classic |
| June 23 | Bomb destroys Air India Boeing 747 in air near Ireland, 329 die |
| June 23 | Laffit Pincay, Jr. becomes 2nd jockey to win $100 million |
| June 24 | 18th Space Shuttle Mission (51-G)-Discovery 5 returns to Earth |
| June 24 | Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-F |
| June 25 | Fireworks factory near Hallett, OK explodes, 21 die |
| June 27 | 1st hotel strike in New York |
| June 27 | Route 66, Chicago to Santa Monica, is decertified |
| June 28 | Discovery ferried back to Kennedy Space Center via Bergstrom AFB, Tx |
| June 29 | NASA launches Intelsat VA |
| June 29 | STS-51-F vehicle moves to launch pad |
| June 30 | 39 remaining hostages from Flight 847 are freed in Beirut |
| June 30 | Juli Inkster wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open |
| June 30 | "King and I" closes at Broadway Theater New York City after 191 performances |
| June 30 | Los Angeles Dodger Pedro Gonzalez sets NL record of 15 home runs in June |
| July 2 | Andrei Gromyko appointed president of U.S.S.R. |
| July 2 | European Space Agency launches Giotto (Halley's Comet Flyby) |
| July 3 | CBS announces a 21% stock buy-back to thwart Ted Turner's takeover |
| July 4 | Tinker Bell's nightly flight begins |
| July 5 | 117 degrees F (47 degrees C), St. George, Utah (state rec) (103 degrees spread, UT 1985) |
| July 5 | Nicholas Mark Sanders (England) begins circumnavigation of globe, covering 13,035 road miles in 78 days, 3 hours, 30 minutes |
| July 5 | Premier Mugabe wins Zimbabwe elections |
| July 7 | 92nd Wimbledon Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats C Evert (46 63 62) |
| July 7 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Mazda Hall of Fame Golf Championship |
| July 8 | 99th Wimbledon Mens Tennis: Boris Becker beats K Curren (63 67 76 64) |
| July 8 | Marge Schott becomes CEO of Cincinnati Red |
| July 9 | South Africa police arrested Dutch ANC'er Klaas de Jong |
| July 10 | Coca-Cola Co announces it will resume selling old formula Coke |
| July 10 | French agents sink Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior |
| July 10 | Playboy publishes full frontal nude pictures of Madonna |
| July 11 | Astros' Nolan Ryan, 1st to strike out 4000 (Mets' Danny Heep) |
| July 11 | Refurbished Columbia moves overland from Palmdale to Dryden |
| July 11 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| July 12 | Doctors discover a cancerous growth in President Reagan's colon |
| July 12 | "Singin' in the Rain" opens at Gershwin Theater New York City for 367 performances |
| July 12 | STS-51-F launch scrubbed at T -3s because of main engine shutdown |
| July 13 | "Live Aid" concert raises over $70 million for African famine relief |
| July 13 | New York Yankees retire Roger Maris (9) and Elston Howard (32) uniforms |
| July 14 | 40th U.S. Women's Open Golf Championship won by Kathy Baker |
| July 14 | Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb |
| July 14 | Last USFL game-Baltimore Stars defeats Oakland Invaders, 28-24 |
| July 15 | Deborah Carthy-Deu, of Puerto Rico, crowned 34th Miss Universe |
| July 16 | 56th All Star Baseball Game: NL wins 6-1 at Humphrey Metrodome, Minn |
| July 16 | All star MVP: LaMarr Hoyt (San Diego Padres) |
| July 16 | Bill to abolish Greater London Council receives royal assent |
| July 18 | U.S.S.R. performs underground nuclear Test |
| July 19 | Christa McAuliffe chosen 1st school teacher to fly space shuttle |
| July 19 | Dam in Fiemme Valley Italy bursts; 200-300 die |
| July 20 | Divers find wreck of Spanish galleon Atocha |
| July 21 | 114th British Golf Open: Sandy Lyle shoots a 282 at Royal St. George |
| July 21 | Amina Fakir (Detroit), 23, crowned 18th Miss Black America |
| July 21 | Bernard Hinault wins his 5th and last Tour de France |
| July 21 | Judy Clark wins LPGA Boston Five Golf Classic |
| July 21 | "Leader of the Pack" closes at Ambassador Theater New York City after 120 performances |
| July 24 | Gandhi signs peace contract with Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowai |
| July 25 | Spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed he had AIDS |
| July 25 | U.S. performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site |
| July 25 | U.S.S.R. performs nuclear Test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R. |
| July 25 | Uganda suspends constitution following coup |
| July 28 | 13th du Maurier Golf Classic: Pat Bradley |
| July 28 | Alan Garcia sworn in as president of Peru |
| July 28 | L Brock, Slaughter, A Vaughan, and H Wilhelm inducted into Hall of Fame |
| July 29 | 19th Space Shuttle Mission (51-F)-Challenger 8-launched |
| July 30 | Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-I mission |
| July 30 | Valerie Lowrance, of Texas, 18, crowned America's Junior Miss |
| August 1 | 15.4 cm rainfall at Cheyenne, Wyoming (state record) |
| August 1 | Emmy 12th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 6th time |
| August 1 | Vince Coleman steals 2 bases in 1st inning, for NL rookie record 74 |
| August 2 | 5 die in a train crash in Westminster, Colorado |
| August 2 | Delta Lockheed L-1011 crashes at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport, 137 die |
| August 2 | NASA launches space vehicle S-209 |
| August 3 | "Nihilator" set harness pacing mile (1:49.6) in East Rutherford, NJ |
| August 3 | Train crash at Flaujac, France: 35 killed |
| August 4 | California Angel Rod Carew gets his 3,000th hit |
| August 4 | "Dreamgirls" closes at Imperial Theater New York City after 1522 performances |
| August 4 | Penny Hammel wins LPGA Jamie Farr Toledo Golf Classic |
| August 4 | Phil Rizzuto Day, Yankees retire #10 |
| August 4 | Rod Carew, is 16th to get 3,000 hits |
| August 4 | White Sox Tom Seaver is 17th to win #300, beating Yankees |
| August 5 | Baseball players go on strike for 2 days |
| August 5 | Establishment of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced |
| August 5 | Flexible-wing glider altitude record (214,250') set by Larry Tudor |
| August 6 | 19th space shuttle mission (51-F), Challenger 8, lands at Edwards AFB |
| August 6 | Major League Baseball Players' Association stages a midseason baseball strike (lasts 1 day) |
| August 6 | STS-51-I vehicle moves to launch pad |
| August 7 | Barbra Streisand records "Broadway Album" |
| August 7 | Baseball players end a 2 day strike |
| August 8 | Baseball's new agreement permits 2 new NL teams in 1993 |
| August 8 | Japan launches Planet A, a probe to Halley's comet |
| August 10 | A's Dave Kingman is 21st to hit 400 home runs (off Matt Young at Seattle) |
| August 10 | Michael Jackson buys ATV Music (every Beatle songs) for $47 million |
| August 10 | Uno Lindstron of Sweden, juggles a soccer ball 13.11 miles |
| August 11 | 67th PGA Championship: Hubert Green shoots 278 at Cherry Hills Denver |
| August 11 | Challenger flies to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz |
| August 11 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Henredon Golf Classic |
| August 11 | Oakland A's Dave Kingman becomes 21st to hit 400 home run |
| August 11 | Rudolf Povarnitsin of U.S.S.R. sets new high jump world record (7'10"12) |
| August 11 | "Tap Dance Kid" closes at Broadhurst Theater New York City after 669 performances |
| August 12 | 7th Emmy Sports Award presentation |
| August 12 | Baltimore Orioles W Gross and L Sheets are 6th to hit consecutive pinch home runs |
| August 12 | Japanese Boeing 747SR crashes, 520 die (worst in-flight toll) |
| August 15 | Anti-apartheid lawyer Bulelani Ngcuka marries in South Africa |
| August 15 | Iraqi air raid on Iran oil-island Kharg |
| August 16 | Madonna weds Sean Penn on her 27th birthday |
| August 17 | 1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a Geo A Hormel and Co plant |
| August 17 | Dave Kingman hits his 400th home run |
| August 17 | Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India |
| August 17 | Sara Trollinger forms House of Hope in Orlando |
| August 18 | Amy Alcott wins LPGA Nestle World Championship of Women's Golf |
| August 18 | Muffin Spencer-Devlin wins MasterCard International Pro-Am Golf Tourn |
| August 18 | Suisei Launch (Halley's Comet Flyby) |
| August 19 | Japan launches its 2nd probe of Halley's Comet, Suisei |
| August 20 | 1st NL pitcher to strike out 200+ in 1st 2 seasons (Dwight Gooden) |
| August 20 | Hanspeter Beck of South Australia, finishes a 3,875 mile, 51 day trip from Western Australia to Melbourne on a unicycle |
| August 20 | Israel ships 96 TOWs to Iran on behalf of US |
| August 20 | Libya throws out 1000s Tunisian/Egyptian gas workers |
| August 20 | Met Dwight Gooden strikes out 16 on way to his 13th consecutive win |
| August 21 | Mary Decker Slaney runs mile in world record 4:16.71 |
| August 21 | New York Lotto pays $41 million to three winner (#s are 14-17-22-23-30-47) |
| August 22 | 30th Walker Cup: U.S. wins 13-11 |
| August 22 | Airtours Boeing-737 crashes at airport of Manchester, 55 killed |
| August 23 | Paul Hornung awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against NCAA who barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games |
| August 23 | Said Aouita of Morocco sets 1.5k record (3:29.46) in Berlin |
| August 23 | South African attorney/UDF leader "Dulah" Omar arrested |
| August 23 | West German top counter espionage Hans Tiedge moves to East Germany |
| August 24 | STS-51-I mission scrubbed at T -5m because of bad weather |
| August 25 | Met Dwight Goodin becomes youngest pitcher to win 20 games (20y 9m 9d) |
| August 25 | Pat Bradley wins LPGA National Pro-Am Golf Tournament |
| August 25 | STS-51-I scrubbed at T -9m because of an onboard computer problem |
| August 26 | Baltimore Oriole Eddie Murray knocks in 9 RBIs in a game vs California Angels |
| August 26 | French government claims no knowledge of assault on Rainbow Warrior |
| August 27 | 20th Space Shuttle Mission (51-I)-Discovery 6-launched |
| August 27 | Mary Joe Fernandez, 14 years and 8 days old is youngest to win a U.S. Tennis Open match (beats Sara Gomer in 1st round) |
| August 29 | Atlantis moves to launch pad for 51-J mission |
| August 29 | Emmy News and Documentaries Award presentation |
| August 29 | New York Yankee Don Baylor is hit by a pitch for a record 190th time |
| August 31 | Angel Cordero becomes 3rd jockey to ride horses earning over $100 M |
| August 31 | "Prakas" sets trotting mile record of 1:53.4 at Du Quoin, Ill |
| September 1 | Cyclist Joop Zoetemelk becomes world champion |
| September 1 | U.S. - French expedition locates wreckage of Titanic off Newfoundland |
| September 2 | Betsy King wins LPGA Rail Charity Golf Classic |
| September 2 | Jerry Lewis' 20th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $33,100,000 |
| September 3 | 20th Space Shuttle Mission (51-I)-Discovery 6-returns to Earth |
| September 3 | England regain Cricket Ashes by beating Australia at The Oval |
| September 3 | New York Met Gary Carter hits 3 consecutive home runs in a game |
| September 4 | Igor Paklin of U.S.S.R. set a new high jump world record at 7-11 12 |
| September 4 | New York Mets Gary Carter's 2 home runs ties record of 5 home runs in 2 games |
| September 7 | 99th U.S. Womens Tennis: Hana Mandlikova beats M Navratilova (76 16 76) |
| September 7 | Mary Decker Tabb Slaney runs U.S. 3K female record (8:25.83) |
| September 8 | 105th U.S. Mens Tennis: Ivan Lendl beats John McEnroe (76 63 64) |
| September 8 | 7 die in a car and train crash in San Jose, California |
| September 8 | Alayson Gibbons sets 24 hour women swim record of 42.05 miles in 25 meter pool |
| September 8 | Discovery flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB |
| September 8 | Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Portland Ping Golf Championship |
| September 8 | Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with 4,191 hits |
| September 8 | "USA Weekend's" 1st issue, appears in 255 newspapers |
| September 9 | President Reagan orders sanctions against South Africa |
| September 9 | Race riot in Birmingham England |
| September 11 | Flyby of Comet Giacobini-Zinner |
| September 11 | International Cometary Explorer (ISEE 3) passes Giacobini-Zinner by 7900 km |
| September 11 | Pete Rose of Cincinnati Reds gets career hit 4,192 off Eric Show of San Diego Padres, eclipsing Ty Cobb's record |
| September 11 | Sri Lanka score their 1st Test Cricket victory, by 149 runs vs. India |
| September 12 | Flight readiness firing of Atlantis' main engines; 20 seconds |
| September 13 | 2nd MTV Awards: Bruce Springsteen |
| September 13 | John Williams introduces new Today Show theme |
| September 14 | Susan Akin (Miss), 21, crowned 59th Miss America 1986 |
| September 15 | 26th Ryder Cup: Europe beat U.S., 16 -11 at The Belfry, England |
| September 15 | Joanne Carner wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic |
| September 15 | Olof Palme forms Sweden minority government |
| September 15 | Senate judiciary committee begins Robert Bork confirmation hearings |
| September 15 | Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concert |
| September 15 | Yankees trade Jim Deshaies to Astros for 40-year-old Joe Niekro |
| September 17 | Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station |
| September 18 | "Song and Dance" opens at Royale Theater New York City for 474 performances |
| September 19 | 12,000 die and 40,000 injured in Mexico's earthquake (8.1) |
| September 20 | Curtis Strong is convicted for selling cocaine to pro baseball players |
| September 20 | Walt Disney World receives its 200-millionth guest |
| September 21 | Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 for heavyweight boxing title |
| September 22 | 37th Emmy Awards: Cagney and Lacey, Cosby Show and Tyne Daly win |
| September 22 | Billy Martin's right arm is broken by pitcher Ed Whitson |
| September 22 | Earthquake strikes Mexico, 2,000 killed |
| September 22 | France premier confesses on attack of Rainbow Warrior |
| September 22 | Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes to become Heavyweight Boxing Champ |
| September 22 | Rock and country musicians participate in FarmAid in Champaign, Ill |
| September 22 | St. Louis Cardinals set an unusual streak record by winning 9 of 10 games, each pitched by a different man |
| September 22 | Val Skinner wins LPGA Konica San Jose Golf Classic |
| September 24 | Expos Andre Dawson joins Willey McCovey to hit 2 home runs in an inn twice |
| September 24 | Fastest English Channel crossing by a relay team set (15h 30m) |
| September 24 | Montreal Expo Andre Dawson is 9th to get 6 RBIs in an inning (5th) |
| September 25 | Akali Dal wins Punjab State election in India |
| September 25 | Palestinian terrorists kill 3 Israeli sailors at Lanaca Cyprus |
| September 25 | Rickey Henderson steals Yankee record 75th base of season |
| September 26 | Tunisia drops diplomatic relations with Libya |
| September 27 | 8 killed as roof collapses in Brussel's supermarket |
| September 27 | Hurricane Gloria's 130 MPH wind hits Atlantic coast |
| September 28 | "Don't Lose My Number" by Phil Collins peaks at #4 |
| September 28 | "Every Step Of The Way" by John Waite peaks at #25 |
| September 28 | "Freedom" by Wham! peaks at #3 |
| September 28 | "Janet" by Commodores peaks at #87 |
| September 29 | "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," returns to NBC-TV |
| September 29 | "Amazing Stories," by Steven Spielberg, debuts on NBC-TV |
| September 29 | Deron Cherry, Kansas City vs Seattle, has 4 interceptions! |
| September 29 | Houston quarterback Warren Moon sacked NFL tying record 12 times (by Cowboys) |
| September 29 | "MacGyver," starring Richard Dean Anderson, debuts on ABC-TV |
| September 30 | Howard Stern gets fired from WNBC AM in New York |
| October 1 | Israeli air raid on PLO-headquarter at Tunis, 68 killed |
| October 2 | Russian party leader Gorbatsjov visits Paris |
| October 2 | Tigers Darrell Evans is 1st to hit 40 home run seasons in both leagues |
| October 3 | 21st Shuttle Mission (51J)-Atlantis 1-all-military flight launched |
| October 3 | Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) adopts constitution |
| October 3 | Pope John Paul II declares Titus Brandsma divine |
| October 3 | South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands adopts constitution |
| October 4 | Henry G. Perry completes 157 day, 14,021 mile bicycle tour of Australia |
| October 4 | Shite Moslems claim to have killed hostage William Buckley - CIA station chief in Beirut |
| October 5 | Grambling's Eddie Robinson wins record 324th football game |
| October 6 | Marita Koch of Germany sets 400m woman's record (47.6) in Australia |
| October 6 | Yankee Phil Niekro becomes 18th pitcher to win 300 games and also at 46 becomes oldest to pitch a shut-out beating Toronto 8-0 |
| October 7 | 21st Space Shuttle Mission (51-J)-Atlantis 1 lands at Edwards AFB |
| October 7 | KHQ-AM in Spokane Washington's final transmission |
| October 7 | Lynette Woodward, chosen as 1st woman on Harlem Globetrotters |
| October 7 | PLO terrorists sieze Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro |
| October 8 | Alain Boubil/Herbert Kretzner's "Les Miserables," premieres in London |
| October 8 | Little Richard seriously injured in a car accident |
| October 8 | "Rembrandt and Hitler or Me" premieres in Amsterdam |
| October 9 | Central Park's Strawberry Fields, dedicated |
| October 9 | "Tango Argentino" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater New York City for 198 performances |
| October 9 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| October 10 | Sudan adopts interim constitution |
| October 10 | U.S. fighter jets force Egyptian plane carrying hijackers of Italian ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, gunmen are placed in custody |
| October 11 | Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB |
| October 11 | President Reagan bans importation of South African Krugerrands |
| October 11 | U.S. intercepts Egyptian Boeing with Achille Lauro terrorists |
| October 12 | Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-61A mission |
| October 12 | International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War receives Nobel Prize |
| October 12 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| October 13 | Belgium premier Martens CVP wins parliamentary election |
| October 13 | During NLCS, Cards rookie Vince Coleman is injured stretching before game as his left leg is caught in Busch Stadium's automated tarpaulin |
| October 13 | "Sunday in the Park with George" closes at Booth New York City after 604 performances |
| October 14 | 19th Country Music Association Award: Ricky Skaggs wins |
| October 14 | On Mon Night football, Jets retire Joe Namath's #12, beat Miami 23-7 |
| October 15 | Nobel prize for economics awarded to Franco Modigliani |
| October 15 | Shelley Taylor of Australia makes fastest swim ever around Manhattan Island, doing it in 6 hours 12 minutes 29 seconds |
| October 15 | Shuttle Columbia carries Spacelab into orbit |
| October 16 | Challenger vehicle moves to launch pad for STS-61A mission |
| October 16 | Intel introduces 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip |
| October 16 | Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals win their league championships |
| October 16 | Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Herbert Hauptman and Jerome Karle |
| October 17 | French author Claude Simon won the Nobel Prize in literature |
| October 17 | Lou Piniella named New York Yankee manager |
| October 21 | Qasim Omar (206) and Javed Miandad (203*) make 397 stand vs. SL |
| October 22 | Bret Saberhagen gives Kansas City Royals their 1st World Series win |
| October 25 | Angels announce that they will not offer Rod Carew a new contract |
| October 25 | Kosmos 1700 communications satellite placed in geostationary orbit |
| October 26 | On a poor call in 6th game, umpire Don Deckinger starts a string of events costing Cardinals the World Series |
| October 27 | 15th New York City Women's Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:28:34 |
| October 27 | 16th New York City Marathon won by Orlando Pizzolato in 2:11:34 |
| October 27 | Anthony Carter begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions |
| October 27 | Billy Martin is fired by Yankees for 4th time |
| October 27 | Hurricane Juan ravages U.S. Gulf states and east coast, 49 die |
| October 27 | Kansas City Royals beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3 in 82nd World Series |
| October 27 | Thieves steal 9 paintings, including 5 Monet's and 2 Renoir's |
| October 28 | Ravi Ratnayeke takes 8-83 for Sri Lanka vs. Pakistan |
| October 29 | Cards' Joaquin Andujar suspended for 10 games for bumping an ump |
| October 30 | 22nd Space Shuttle Mission (61-A)-Challenger 9-launched |
| October 31 | Last day in Test cricket for Zaheer Abbas |
| November 1 | Netherlands decides definative sites for cruise missiles |
| November 1 | Nostalgia Television begins on cable |
| November 2 | Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Cozzene, Life's Magic, Pebbles, Precisionist, Proud Truth, Tasso, Twilight Ridge |
| November 3 | Argentine President Alfonsins Radical Burgerunie wins elections |
| November 3 | Jan Stephenson wins LPGA Nichirei Cup Team Match Golf Tournament |
| November 5 | "News" opens at Helen Hayes Theater New York City for 4 performances |
| November 6 | 22nd Space Shuttle Mission (61A) -Challenger 9- lands at Edwards AFB |
| November 6 | Exploratory well at Ranger Tx, explodes spilling 6.3 m gallons of oil |
| November 6 | M-19 guerrilla's occupies Palace of Justice Bogota Colombia |
| November 6 | Space shuttle Challenger lands at Edwards AFB California |
| November 7 | Colombian troops end 27-hour siege of Bogota's Palace of Justice |
| November 8 | Atlantis moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-61-B mission |
| November 9 | Gary Kasparov becomes world chess champion |
| November 9 | "News" closes at Helen Hayes Theater New York City after 4 performances |
| November 9 | Richard Hadlee takes 9-52 vs. Australia at the Gabba |
| November 9 | Surprise attack on Belgium supermarket in Aalst, 8 killed |
| November 10 | Jane Blalock wins LPGA Mazda Japan Golf Classic |
| November 11 | 1st AIDS theme TV movie - "An Early Frost" |
| November 11 | Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB |
| November 11 | Yonkers is found guilty of segregating schools and housing |
| November 12 | Horse Racing Breeders' Cup Champs: Cozzene, Life's Magic, Pebbles, Precisionist, Proud Truth, Tasso, Twilight Ridge at Aqueduct |
| November 12 | R. Hadlee takes 15-123 for Cricket match vs. Australia at Brisbane |
| November 12 | STS-61-B vehicle moves to launch pad |
| November 13 | Dwight Gooden, youngest 20 game winner, wins Cy Young award |
| November 13 | Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, kills 25,000 |
| November 14 | Brewers release 39-year-old pitcher Rollie Fingers |
| November 14 | Holmfriour Karlsottir of Iceland, 22, crowned 35th Miss World |
| November 14 | Volcano Nevado del Ruiz Colombia erupts, 1000s killed |
| November 17 | Howard Stern begins broadcasting on 92.3 WXRK FM in New York |
| November 17 | New York Jets best offensive production beating Tampa Bay 62-28 |
| November 18 | Dwight Gooden (NL) and Bret Saberhagen (AL) win Cy Young |
| November 18 | Enterprise (OV-101) flies from Kennedy Space Center to Dulles Airport |
| November 18 | Howard Stern radio show returns to New York City WXRK 92.3 FM-afternoons |
| November 18 | Paul McCartney releases "Spies Like Us" |
| November 19 | Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport," premieres in New York City |
| November 19 | President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for 1st time |
| November 20 | New York Yankee Don Mattingly easily wins AL MVP |
| November 22 | Columbia moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-61-C |
| November 22 | Largest swearing-in ceremony, 38,648 immigrants become U.S. citizens |
| November 22 | PNP/MAN win Antilian parliamentary election |
| November 23 | 58 die as Egyptian commandos storm hijack Egyptair jet in Malta |
| November 23 | Retired CIA analyst Larry Wu-tai Chin, arrested of spying for China |
| November 24 | 73rd CFL Grey Cup: BC Lions defeats Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 37-24 |
| November 24 | Egyptian commandos storm captured Boeing in Malta, 60 killed |
| November 25 | White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen, is named AL Rookie of Year |
| November 26 | 23rd Space Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-is launched |
| November 26 | France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island |
| November 26 | Random House buys Richard Nixons memoires for $3,000,000 |
| November 27 | Cards Vince Coleman wins NL Rookie of Year |
| November 27 | Republic of Ireland gains consultative role in Northern Ireland |
| November 28 | 6th Belgium government of Martens forms |
| December 1 | Noraly Beyer becomes Netherlands 1st black TV newscaster |
| December 1 | South Africa's Cosatu union centre forms |
| December 1 | STS-61-C vehicle moves to launch pad |
| December 2 | "Mystery of Edwin Drood" opens at Imperial Theater New York City for 608 performances |
| December 2 | Philipine Chief staff General Fabian speaks of B Aquino's murder |
| December 2 | Rupert Holmes' musical "Mystery of Edwin Drood," premieres in New York City |
| December 3 | 23rd Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-lands at Edwards AFB |
| December 4 | French President Mitterrand receives Polish leader Jaruzelski |
| December 4 | "Les Miserables" opens at Palace Theatre, London |
| December 4 | President Reagan appoints Vice Admiral John Poindexter as security adviser |
| December 5 | Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 level for 1st time |
| December 5 | Great Britain performs nuclear test |
| December 5 | Sam Shepard's "Lie of the Mind," premieres in New York City |
| December 7 | 51st Heisman Trophy Award: Bo Jackson, Auburn (RB) |
| December 7 | Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB |
| December 8 | 60th Australian Womens Tennis: M Navratilova beats C Evert (62 46 62) |
| December 8 | Ken O'Brien's 96 yard TD pass (New York Jet record) to Wesley Walker |
| December 8 | Laurie Rinker/Larry Rinker wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic |
| December 9 | 74th Australian Mens Tennis: S Edberg beats Mats Wilander (64 63 63) |
| December 9 | Jerry Rice begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions |
| December 9 | Phoenix Arizona, gets 3 inches of snow |
| December 10 | Bill to balance the federal budget passed by Congress |
| December 10 | Junta leaders Videla and Massera sentenced in Buenos Aires |
| December 11 | Computer store owner in Sacramento California killed by package bomb |
| December 11 | Dow Jones closes above 1,500 for 1st time (1,511.70) |
| December 11 | General Electric acquires RCA Corp and its subsidiary, NBC |
| December 11 | NHL Record 62 points scored, Edmonton (36) beats Chicago (26) 12-9 and ties record of 21 goals |
| December 12 | 248 U.S. soldiers and 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash |
| December 12 | DC-8 crashes near Gander, Newfoundland; 258 die |
| December 12 | NASA launches space vehicle S-207 |
| December 13 | David Boon's 1st Test century, 123 vs. India at Adelaide |
| December 13 | Test debut of Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid (v India) |
| December 14 | U.S. Foreign Minister George Shultz arrives in West Berlin |
| December 15 | Sylvester Stallone and Brigitte Nielson wed |
| December 16 | Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS-51-L mission |
| December 18 | "Jerry's Girls" opens at St. James Theater New York City for 139 performances |
| December 18 | U.N. Security Council unanimously condemns "acts of hostage-taking" |
| December 19 | Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart |
| December 19 | STS-61-C scrubbed at T -13s because of SRB auxiliary power problem |
| December 19 | "Wind in the Willows" opens at Nederlander Theater New York City for 4 performances |
| December 20 | Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points) |
| December 20 | Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC |
| December 20 | Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st) |
| December 21 | Alice Miller/Don January wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship |
| December 21 | ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA |
| December 21 | Heart's "Heart," album goes #1 |
| December 22 | 74th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Germany in Munich (3-2) |
| December 22 | STS-51-L vehicle moves to Launch Pad 39B |
| December 22 | "Wind in the Willows" closes at Nederlander Theater New York City after 4 performances |
| December 26 | Test Cricket debut of Steve Waugh, vs. India at the MCG |
| December 27 | Terrorists kill 20 and wound 110 attacking El Al at Rome and Vienna airports, President Reagan blames Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi |
| December 28 | U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site |
| December 28 | Warring Lebanese Moslem and Christian leaders sign peace agreement |
| December 30 | IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 released |
| December 30 | Pakistan restores constitution |
