1986 - What happened in 1986 ?

January 1986

Wednesday 01:

Spain and Portugal are admitted into the European Community.

Monday 13:

A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.

Monday 20:

The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.

Friday 24:

Voyager 2 passes within 50,679 miles of Uranus.

Tuesday 28:

Space Shuttle Challenger explodes just after takeoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.

February 1986

Friday 07:

28 years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

Sunday 09:

Comet Halley reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Earth, during it's second visit to the solar system in the 20th century.

Tuesday 11:

Rights activist Anatoly Sharansky, released by the USSR, leaves the country.

Wednesday 19:

After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.

Tuesday 25:

EDSA Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president.

March 1986

Sunday 09:

United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts were still inside.

Thursday 20:

1986 – Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France

Thursday 27:

Car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer, Angela Taylor and injuring 21 people.

Monday 31:

Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England

April 1986

Thursday 03:

IBM unveils the PC Convertible, their first laptop computer.

Tuesday 08:

Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).

Sunday 13:

Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters Tournament

Saturday 26:

In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.

Sunday 27:

Captain Midnight (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.

May 1986

Friday 02:

The 1986 World Exposition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, opens.

Saturday 03:

In Bergen, Norway, Sandra Kim wins the thirty-first Eurovision Song Contest for Belgium singing "J'aime la vie" (I love life).

Monday 26:

The European Community adopts the European flag.

June 1986

Thursday 05:

A 52-year old man in Auburn, Washington, United States, dies after taking an Excedrin capsule laced with cyanide; this is the first of two Excedrin deaths.

Sunday 08:

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.

Monday 09:

The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Sunday 22:

The All Jharkhand Students Union is founded, in order to fight for autonomy for tribal peoples in India.

Sunday 29:

Argentina wins the {{Wc|1986}}

July 1986

Tuesday 01:

In an interview with Playboy magazine, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke comes out as a bisexual.

Friday 18:

1986 - The motion picture Aliens opens in theaters.

Wednesday 23:

In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

August 1986

Wednesday 06:

A low pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney.

Saturday 09:

1987 - Five people shot dead + Eleven injured as 19-year old Julian Knight opens fire @ random in Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, Melbourne, VIC

Wednesday 20:

In Edmond, Oklahoma, US Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.

Thursday 21:

Toxic gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people.

Thursday 28:

US Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.

September 1986

Friday 05:

Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.

Saturday 06:

In Istanbul, two Arab terrorists from Abu Nidal's terror organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.

Sunday 07:

1986 - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.

Monday 15:

First broadcast of the TV show LA Law on NBC.

Saturday 27:

Cliff Burton, bassist for Metallica, dies after being crushed by the band's tour bus during their European tour.

October 1986

Thursday 09:

United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.

Sunday 19:

Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains.

Monday 20:

1989 - Brisbane bound coach collides with Semi - Traler North of Grafton NSW (Grafton Bus Crash)

Tuesday 21:

In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he will be released in August 1991).

Tuesday 28:

Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews and is given five life sentences.

November 1986

Monday 03:

Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

Sunday 09:

Romania: Ellection of Patriarch Teoctist Ar?pa?u/Theoctist

Tuesday 11:

Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.

Saturday 22:

Mike Tyson knocks-out Trevor Berbick in a round 2 fight, becoming the youngest world heavyweight-boxing champion (20 years, 4 months old).

Wednesday 26:

The New Yorker publishes Susan Sontag's AIDS short story, "The Way We Live Now"

December 1986

Wednesday 10:

Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Tuesday 23:

The Scaled Composites Voyager aircraft completes the first non-stop flight around the world without refueling.

Friday 26:

The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air

Wednesday 31:

A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.