1985

The first UK mobile phone call was made by Michael Harrison, son of Vodafone Chairman Sir Ernest Harrison, from Parliament Square, London just after Big Ben struck midnight. He used a Vodafone Transportable VT1 phone to call his father. according to Vodafone, Michael said to his father, "Happy New Year dad, it's Mike here. This is the first call ever made on a UK cellular network."

The first ever civilian mobile phone call made in the UK was made from London's St Katharine Docks, via the Vodafone network, by comedian Ernest Wise. The patronage of Little Ern may seem a little incongruous, but Wise had already done an ad for Atari with Eric Morecambe earlier that decade, and was already well-versed in hawking grey, clunky pieces of tech, for presumably a neat little pay packet.

Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 was a scheduled international flight from Asunción, Paraguay, to Miami, Florida, United States. While descending towards La Paz, Bolivia, for a scheduled stopover, the Boeing 727 jetliner struck Mount Illimani at an altitude of 19,600 feet (6,000 m), killing all 29 people on board.

Scotland Yard were investigating a surrogate mother in London following reports she was to receive £6,500 for her baby from a childless couple.

Kim Cotton gave birth to a baby girl but was forced to leave her in the care of Victoria Maternity Hospital after the London borough of Barnet imposed a court order.

The baby, who is still unnamed, will remain at the hospital until a juvenile court decided her future.

Israel airlifted thousands of Jewish Ethiopian refugees out of Sudan. Operation Moses, which was taking place in secret was suspended when news of the covert airlift became public.

Press leaks forced the Israeli Government to admit that about 8,000 Ethiopians fleeing famine-struck Ethiopia had arrived in Israel.

The Arab world was angered by Khartoum's decision to co-operate with Israel and allow charter planes to fly from Sudan.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, insisted that Operation Moses will continue.

An electric tricycle, capable of a top speed of 15 mph, was driven into a safety row on its first day on the road.

The Sinclair C5 - launched by the computer millionaire, Sir Clive Sinclair - was designed for short journeys around town and could be driven by anyone over the age of 14.

The British Safety Council said the vehicle was too close to the ground and gives the driver poor visibility in traffic.

A symbolic peace treaty was signed by Ugo Vetere and Chedli Klibi, the mayors of Rome and modern Carthage, respectively; 2,131 years after the Third Punic War ended.

Iberia Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid to Bilbao crashed into a ravine after one of its wings sliced a television antenna on the summit of Mount Oiz in Biscay during an approach to Bilbao Airport.

All 141 passengers and 7 crew on board died. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in both the Basque Country and Iberia history.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers.

Miners' leaders voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.

Miners' leader Arthur Scargill says the campaign against job losses will continue - but miners will return to work.

The final vote by the National Union of Mineworkers national executive was close; 98 to 91 for a return to work.

A megathrust earthquake measuring 8.0 Mw  struck just offshore the Greater Valparaíso area of Central Chile, following a ten-day period of moderate and non-destructive foreshocks and left at least 177 people dead and about 2,500 injured.

A silent 8mm colour motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder as US President John F Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 that unexpectedly captured the President's assassination was shown to a national TV audience for the first time.

At least 45 people died and 175 were injured in a car bomb explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb went off close to a mosque as worshippers were gathering for prayers in a densely populated Shia Muslim suburb.

It was the worst attack in the Lebanese capital since November 1983 when 61 people were killed in a suicide car bomb attack in the southern port of Tyre.

Mikhail Gorbachev took over at the Kremlin following the death of Konstantin Chernenko, 73, after a long illness. Sombre music preceded the news on radio and television and scheduled programmes were cancelled.

The speed of naming of his successor - at 54 the youngest man to take over as general secretary of the Soviet communist party - took people by surprise.

Associated Press reporter Terry Anderson had just finished a tennis game when he was abducted from the street in Beirut, placed in the trunk of a car, and taken to a secret location.

 Canadian paralympic track and field athlete Richard Hansen embarked on his Man In Motion World Tour from Oakridge Mall in Vancouver. His aim was to demonstrate the potential of people with disabilities if barriers were removed and to inspire a more accessible world.

STS-51-D was the 16th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fourth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission was deploy two communications satellites.

By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for several years. Blind taste tests suggested that consumers preferred the sweeter taste of the competing product Pepsi-Cola, and so the Coca-Cola recipe was reformulated.

STS-51-B was the 17th flight of the NASA Space Shuttle program and the seventh flight of Space Shuttle Challenger.

On the mission, Spacelab carried 15 primary experiments, of which 14 were successfully performed.

At least 52 people died and many were missing after fire engulfed the Bradford City football stadium.

Hundreds of people were in hospital suffering from burns. Most of the dead were children or elderly people crushed in the rush to escape the inferno.

The tragedy sent shockwaves around the world. The Queen, the Pope, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and church leaders sent messages of condolence to a city in mourning.

The Philadelphia Police Department bombed and destroyed residential homes in the Cobbs Creek neighbourhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, during an armed standoff with MOVE, a black liberation organization.

Two South Wales miners were jailed for life for the murder of taxi driver David Wilkie during the miners' strike in November.

Mr Wilkie was killed when a block of concrete was thrown down on his car from a bridge as he drove a miner to work in South Wales.

Japanese mountaineer, author, and teacher Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Thirty-nine Juventus football fans died during rioting at the European Cup Final in Brussels.

The tragedy occurred when a wall collapsed in the stadium and crushed Juventus fans as they tried to escape Liverpool supporters.

Shortly before kick off the atmosphere turned violent and Liverpool supporters stampeded through a thin line of police towards the rival fans.

The Football Association banned English clubs from playing in Europe following the Heysel stadium tragedy in which 39 fans died.

The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, supported the ban and called for tougher sentences on convicted football hooligans.

More than 300 people were arrested after an attempt by police to prevent a convoy of hippies reaching Stonehenge led to a violent confrontation.

The travellers were on their way to the ancient stone circle in Wiltshire for an illegal festival but were stopped seven miles from their destination by 500 police officers, who blocked a road and refused to let them pass.

European football's governing body Uefa banned English clubs from playing in Europe indefinitely, following the riot at Brussels' Heysel stadium in which 39 people died.

The ban followed an announcement by the British Football Association on preventing its own English teams from playing in Europe.

STS-51-G was the 18th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. It carried three communications satellites as its primary cargo.

Sultan bin Salman Al Saud from Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist, becoming the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first member of a royal family to fly into space.

An Air India passenger jet disintegrated in mid-air off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board.

Airline officials said they do not know the cause of the crash, but suspected it was caused by a bomb planted by Sikh extremists.

Most of the passengers were of Indian origin and intending to fly on to Bombay or Delhi.

Thirteen people were arrested in connection with a suspected IRA mainland bombing campaign uncovered by police.

The men included a 33-year-old from Belfast, suspected of carrying out the attack on the Conservative Cabinet in the Brighton Grand Hotel last year.

It was feared the IRA had planted devices in seaside resorts around the UK and a massive police hunt was been launched.

All 39 Americans being held captive by the Shia Muslim Amal militia in Lebanon were released, after almost three weeks in captivity.

Their freedom was secured after intervention by the Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad. The White House said no deal had been done with the captors.