1982 was an eventful year, with Ozzy Osbourne eating a bat live on stage, the Falkland War taking place and a new British Prince being born.

A 1982 newspaper from our private archive is a great way to have a look at the way the 1982 events were reported at the time.

Ozzy Osbourne
Image: Wikimedia

1982 Timeline

Turn the page to:

January

January 1: MTA launches a 5 year capital program to upgrade the subway system in New York City.

January 1: The 264th Pope, John Paul II, prays for an end to martial law in Poland.

January 2: Martina Navratilova wins the Australian Open Women’s Tennis Championship, her first of three Australian single crowns.

January 4: The Golden Gate Bridge, in San Francisco, is closed for the third time after fierce storms.

January 5: A judge in Arkansas rules against obligatory teaching of creation.

January 7: Fame premieres on NBC TV, two years after its release.

January 9: An earthquake measuring 5.9 is registered in New England and Canada, the first since 1855.

January 11: In Atlanta, Georgia, the temperature recorded is below 0 F.

January 13: Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

January 15: Magaret Thatcher’s son, Mark, returns home after being missing for 6 days in the Sahara.

January 17: In what is known as “Cold Sunday”, several cities in the United States see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in 100 years.

January 20: 7 miners are killed in an explosion in Craynor, Kentucky.

January 20: Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat on stage in Des Moines, Iowa.

January 20: Piet Dankert is elected as chairman of European Parliament.

January 22: Snow covers 75% of North America.

January 26: The unemployed population in the UK rises above three million, the first time since the 1930s.

January 30: Richard Skrenta writes Elk Cloner, the first PC virus code. It’s 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot programme named Elk Cloner.

January 31: 10 Arabian oryx are released in Oman. The animal is extinct except in zoos.

February

February 1: On NBC-TV, The Late Night with David Letterman show debuts, with Bill Murray as his first guest.

February 3: John Holmes, famed porn star, is ordered to stand trial for murdering four members of a gang in Los Angeles.

February 4: Tacoma Wash sets the world record for the indoor distance of a paper plane. The record is 47m. It has since been beaten, with the current record being 68 meters.

February 5: Laker Airways, a British airline, collapses owing £270 million.

February 10: 28 skiers perform backflips while holding hands in Bromont, Quebec.

February 13: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd has now been in the charts for 402 weeks, around 7 years.

February 16: Agatha Barbara becomes the first female president of Malta.

February 24: The Boston Celtics begin an 18 game winning streak in the NBA.

February 25: The record speed for a snowmobile is set at 148 mph.

February 27: Wayne Williams, the Atlanta Child Murderer, is convicted of killing 2 of 28 total victims.

March

March 1: A ski lift at Luz-Ardiden in Pyrenees, Spain, malfunctions, killing 5 people.

March 1: Venera 14, a Russian spacecraft, lands on Venus and sends back data.

March 2: The Illuminated Path, a terror group, frees 260 prisoners in Peru.

March 6: The world’s loudest recorded human shout is made by Susan Birmingham, at 120 dB.

March 10: President Ronald Reagan announces economic sanctions against Libya.

March 10: A Syzygy takes place – all 9 planets aligned on the same side of the Sun.

March 10: The US place an embargo on Libyan petrol imports due to their support of terrorist groups.

March 11: US boycotts Libyan crude oil.

March 17: 4 Dutch TV crew members are shot dead in El Salvador by the military.

March 21: Jerry Pate celebrates a golf win by jumping into the water hazard.

March 26: Groundbreaking begins in Washington, D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

March 31: The Doobie Brothers, a rock group, split up after 12 years.

April

April 2: In one of the major events in 1982, thousands of Argentine troops seize the Falkland Islands from Great Britain.

April 3: The UN Security Council demands that Argentina withdraw from the Falkland Islands.

April 3: During the 136th Grand National, Dick Saunders becomes the oldest jockey to win the event, at age 48.

April 5: Invincible and Hermes, aircraft carriers, leave Portsmouth for the Falkland Islands.

April 6: In Minnesota, 52,279 attend a baseball game – the largest crowd recorded in the state.

April 16: Queen Elizabeth II announces Canada’s new constitution.

April 17: Pierre Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, announces the Constitution Act.

April 18: Canada Constitution Act replaces the British North America Act.

April 18: The Zimbabwean capital of Salisbury is renamed Harare.

April 19: Guinon Bluford is announced as the first African-American NASA astronaut.

April 19: Sally Ride becomes the first female astronaut.

April 20: The Provisional IRA explode bombs in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Ballymena, Bessbrook and Magherafelt. 2 are killed and 12 are injured.

April 21: The first successful heart transplant is performed by Dr Michael E DeBakey, in the United States.

April 24: 150 followers of Ayatollah Khomeini assault a student dorm in West Germany.

April 24: Nicole wins first place for Germany at the 27th Eurovision Song Contest, by singing “Ein Bisschen Frieden”.

April 26: Argentina surrenders to Great Britain on South Georgia Island, near to the Falkland Islands.

April 26: Rod Stewart is mugged at gunpoint, and his $50,000 Porsche is stolen.

April 27: John Hinckley’s trial begins for the attempted assassination of the US President Ronald Reagan.

April 29: Richard Kuklinski, an American Mafia hitman, murders pharmacist Paul Hoffman by beating him with a tire iron.

Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau
Image: Wikimedia

May

May 3: Ronald Reagan begins weekly 5 minute radio broadcasts.

May 4: HMS Sheffield, a British destroyer, is hit by an Exocet rocket off the Falkland Islands, killing 20 crew on board.

May 10: WABC NYC plays its last record – John Lennon’s Imagine.

May 21: British troops land on the Falkland Islands.

May 23: The BBC warns Britain will bomb Argentina.

May 23: Colin Wilson rides a surfboard for 294 miles.

May 29: May 29th marks the first papal visit to Britain since 1531.

May 29: In the US, the Pentagon plans its first strategy to fight a nuclear war.

May 30: Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO.

June

June 5: Martina Navratilova beats Andrea Jaeger to win her first French singles title.

June 7: Ronald Reagan meets Pope John Paul II at the Vatican City, Rome, and meets Queen Elizabeth II on the same day.

June 8: 135 die after the Brazilian B-727 flight crashes into a mountain.

June 8: President Reagan addresses Parliament in his “ash heap of history” speech.

June 11: Pope John Paul II visits Argentina.

June 11: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is released.

June 14: Argentina surrenders to Britain, ending the 74 day conflict.

June 15: Riots take place in Argentina after the defeat in the Falklands.

June 15: In the US, the Supreme Court rules that all children are entitled to a public education, regardless of citizenship.

June 17: Argentina’s president, Galtieri, resigns after the defeat in the Falkland Islands.

June 20: Tom Watson wins his first, and only, US open, beating Jack Nicklaus by 2.

June 21: Take It Away is released by Paul McCartney.

June 21: John Hinckley is found not guilty of the attempted assassination of President Reagan. The reason the jury gave was reason of insanity.

June 21: Prince William is born. His full name is William Arthur Philip Louis. He is currently, and has been since birth, second in line for the succession to the British throne.

June 24: The US Supreme Court rules that Presidents can’t be sued for actions in office.

June 25: San Francisco holds its first County Fair.

June 25: Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, is released.

July

July 2: Larry Walters rises to 16,000 feet, using a lawn chair and 42 helium balloons.

July 2: In South Africa, the Internal Security Act is passed. This gives powers to authorities to investigate any organisation or publication.

July 3: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert to win the Wimbledon Women’s Tennis title.

July 4: Jimmy Connors beats John McEnroe in an all-American final to win the Wimbledon Men’s Tennis title.

July 9: Pan Am flight Boeing 727 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing 153 people.

July 27: Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister, makes a visit to the US, the first in 11 years.

July 31: After two buses and cars collide, 46 children and 7 adults die near Beaune, France.

August

August 1: Petra Schneider, an East German swimmer, breaks her own 400m medley world record by 19 seconds at the World Championships in Ecuador.

August 6: In South Africa, three ANC members are sentenced to death.

August 18: In Japan, the election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.

August 28: In San Francisco, the first Gay Games are held.

August 29: The lowest temperature in August was recorded in Cleveland, at 3 degrees celsius. 

September

September 1: Mexican President Lopez Portillo nationalizes all banks.

September 1: The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.

September 5: A record of 229 mph for a propeller-driven boat water speed is made by Eddie Hill.

September 11: Chris Evert wins her 6th, and final, US title in the Women’s US Open.

September 14: In Red Lodge, Montana, 36 inches of snow is recorded.

September 15: The first issue of USA Today is published.

September 29: In Chicago, 7 are killed after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules.

Chris Evert
Image: Flickr

October

October 1: Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of West Germany.

October 2: The Portland Building is opened in Portland, Oregon. The building is considered the first “postmodern” building.

October 4: West German parliament officially confirms Kohl as the country’s new leader and Chancellor.

October 5: In White Sands, New Mexico, an unmanned rocket sled reaches 6,121 mph.

October 6: Cats opens on Broadway NYC at Winter Garden Theater. It would run for nearly 18 years, before closing on September 10th, 2000.

October 10: Pope John Paul II canonizes Rev Maximillian Kolbe, making him a Saint. He volunteered to die in place of another prisoner at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1941.

October 11: Mary Rose, a English ship, was raised at Portsmouth, England. It sank during a battle with France in 1545.

October 14: 6,000 couples from the Unification church marry in Korea.

October 14: President Reagan announces a war on drugs.

October 27: China announces that its population has reached over 1 billion people.

October 29: Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney release Girl is Mine.

November

November 2: Over a thousand Russians die after a fire breaks out in the Salung tunnel in Afghanistan.

November 5: George Harrison releases the Gone Troppo album.

November 11: 60 are killed after a gas explosion in an Israeli army headquarters in Tyre.

November 13: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens in Washington, D.C.. It features the names of over 58,000 soldiers killed or missing in the Vietnam War.

November 15: A funeral service is held for Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev, in Moscow’s Red Square.

November 20: At aged 7, Drew Barrymore hosts Saturday Night Live.

November 23: The FCC drops its limits on duration and frequency of advertisements.

November 30: A key event in the 1982 timeline, Michael Jackson releases his album, Thriller.

December

December 2: Barney Clark becomes the first patient to receive a successfully implanted artificial heart, in Utah. Clark lived 112 days with the new heart.

December 4: China adopts a constitution.

December 12: $9,800,000 is stolen from a money transport car in New York City.

December 13: 2,000 die after an earthquake hits Northern Yemen.

December 23: In Times Beach, Missouri, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announces that it has found dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil. Dioxin can cause health problems such as issues with reproduction, development and the immune system.

December 29: In Jamaica, a Bob Marley postage stamp is issued.

Ozzy Osbourne Eats a Bat on Stage

In what was the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, now known as the Iowa Events Center, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off of a dead bat thrown on stage by a fan.

Osbourne had already had a history of decapitating birds, with biting the head off a live dove in 1981, in front of record company executives in Los Angeles.

After the concert, Osbourne was rushed to the Broadlawns Medical Center for a rabies jab. Because of Ozzy’s antics, directors of venues had decided “to prohibit concert performers from using, presenting or in any way making live animals a part of a program without the consent of management.”

The Falklands War

The Falklands War was a 74 day undeclared war between Argentina and United Kingdom over two British dependent territories – the Falkland Islands and its territory South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The war began on 2nd April when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, and invaded South Georgia on the 3rd April. On the 5th April, the British government dispatched the naval task force to react to the Argentine Navy and Air Force, before making a water attack on both the islands. The conflict ended when Argentina surrendered on 14th June, thereby returning the islands to British control. During the 10 week war, 649 Argentine military members, 255 British military members and 3 Falkland Islanders died.

Prince William is Born

Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on the 21st June 1982, to Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana. He is the eldest son of the Prince and Princess, with his brother, Henry Charles Albert David, being born in 1984.

Since birth, he has been second in line to the British Throne.

His wedding to Catherine Middleton on 29th April 2011, was watched by tens of millions around the world. William and Catherine, on their wedding day, became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and have three children – George, Charlotte and Louis.