1987

Events

   * January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the
     Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
   * January 4 - An Amtrak train en route from Washington, DC to New York
     collides with CONRAIL engines killing 16.
   * January 5 - President of the United States Ronald Reagan undergoes
     prostate surgery causing worries about his health.
   * January 21 - Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon (released 1991)
   * January 22 - In Pennsylvania, R. Budd Dwyer, Treasurer for the
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shoots himself at a press conference after
     being found guilty on charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy, and
     racketeering.
   * January 24 - In Lebanon, gunmen kidnap Alann Steen, Jesse Turner,
     Robert Polhill and Mitheleshwar Singh
   * February 11 - British Airways is privatised and listed on the London
     Stock Exchange.
   * February 11 - Philippines constitution goes into effect.
   * February 11 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
   * February 12 - Unabomber bomb explodes in Salt Lake City
   * February 16 - The trial of John Demjanjuk, who was accused of being a
     Nazi guard dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" in Treblinka extermination camp,
     starts in Jerusalem. He was eventually convicted, but this ruling was
     overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court.
   * February 20 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, Utah a bomb explodes in a
     computer store.
   * February 23 - Supernova 1987a is observed, the first "naked-eye"
     supernova since 1604.
   * February 26 - Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes American
     President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security
     staff.
   * March 6 - The Herald of Free enterprise ferry capsizes off of
     Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 189
   * March 10 - Reproductive rights: The Vatican condemns the practice of
     surrogate motherhood along with test-tube babies and artificial
     insemination.
   * March 12 - Les MisŽrables opens on Broadway.
   * March 17 - An Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter fires two exojet missles at the
     USS Stark while patrolling the Persian Gulf, killing 37 sailors,
     wounding 62 others.
   * March 19 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist
     Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL.
   * March 20 - The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug
     AZT.
   * March 22 - Apple announces Macintosh II ja Macintosh SE
   * March 30 - Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" is bought for
     $39.85 million.
   * May 8 - Gary Hart drops out of the running for the Democratic Party
     nomination in the 1988 U.S. presidential election, amid allegations of
     an extra-marital affair with Donna Rice
   * May 11 - The first heart-lung transplant takes place (Baltimore,
     Maryland).
   * May 11 - Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed
     during World War II.
   * May 17 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile
     from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
   * May 28 - 19-year-old West German pilot Mathias Rust evades Soviet air
     defense and lands a private plane on Red Square in Moscow. He is
     immediately detained and will later be released on August 3, 1988.
   * April 6 - The White Patriot Party declares "war" against the Zionist
     Occupation Government (of America)
   * June 11 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first British prime minister in
     160 years to win a third consecutive term,
   * July 4 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher
     of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to
     life imprisonment.
   * July 10 - In Auckland harbor in New Zealand, Greenpeace's Rainbow
     Warrior sinks after French agents in diving gear plant a bomb on the
     hull of the vessel.
   * August 4 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness
     Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to "fairly"
     present controversial issues.
   * August 16 - A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 carrying Northwest Airlines
     flight 255 crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport killing
     all but one of the 156 people on-board (sole survivor was four-year old
     Cecelia Cichan). The crew forgot to properly set the planes flaps.
   * August 19 - Hungerford Massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan
     kills 16 with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
   * August 19 - Order of Garter opened to women
   * September 2 - In Moscow, the trial of 19-year-old pilot Mathias Rust,
     who flew his Cessna airplane into Red Square in May 1987, begins.
   * September 7-September 21 - World's first conference on artificial life,
     Los Alamos National Laboratory
   * October 15 - Hurricane force winds cause extensive damage in southern
     England
   * October 14 - October 16 - The US is caught up in a drama that unfolds
     on television as a young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well and
     is later rescued.
   * October 19 - Black Monday: sharp stock market falls around the world
   * October 30 - The NEC PC Engine is released in Japan
   * November 8 - IRA bomb explodes at Ulster Remembrance Day Service in
     Enniskillen. 11 bystanders die
   * November 18 - Thirty one people die in a fire at King's Cross subway
     station, London, UK
   * December 1 - Channel Tunnel digging commences
   * December 8 - first Intifada begins
   * December 29 - Prozac¨ makes its debut in the US

   * Pendolino train in Italy
   * Shoko Asahara founds Aum Shinrikyo
   * Televangelist Jimmy Bakker is involved in a sex scandal, which causes
     him to step down as the host of The PTL Club.
   * US Politician Gary Hart is involved with a sex scandal which destroys
     his career.

Births

   * March 9 - Lil' Bow Wow, rap musician.
   * October 23 - Jaxon Thomas, Best Cricketer & AFL Player

Deaths

   * January 15 - Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer
   * February 2 - Alistair MacLean, British thriller writer, heart attack
   * February 4 - Liberace
   * February 22 - Andy Warhol, artist, director, writer
   * March 2 - Randolph Scott, actor
   * March 3 - Danny Kaye, actor, singer, comedian
   * March 19 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist and winner 1929 of the
     Nobel Prize in Physics
   * March 21 - Robert Preston, actor
   * March 28 - Maria von Trapp, singer
   * April 2 - Buddy Rich, drummer
   * April 4 - C.L. Moore, science fiction writer
   * May 3 - Dalida, French singer
   * May 6 - William Casey, controversial director of the CIA
   * May 11 - Peter Tosh, musician
   * May 14 - Rita Hayworth, actress
   * May 19 - James Tiptree Jr., science fiction author
   * August 17 - Rudolf Hess, Hitler's second-in-command, commits suicide in
     Spandau prison
   * October 3 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist
   * October 19 - Jacqueline Du Pre, English Cellist
   * October 20 - Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician
   * October 31 - Joseph Campbell, author and expert on mythology

Nobel Prizes

   * Physics - J. Georg Bednorz, K. Alexander MŸller
   * Chemistry Donald J Cram, Jean-Marie Lehn, Charles J Pedersen
   * Medicine - Susumu Tonegawa
   * Literature - Joseph Brodsky
   * Peace- Oscar Arias Sanchez
   * Economics - Robert Solow

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