1984 History

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1984 In technology the Aids Virus is identified at that point it is not the worldwide problem it is today. Following on from the PC, Apple releases the Macintosh computer. Following the Widespread Famine in Ethiopia Some many of the top British and Irish pop musicians under the Name Band Aid and record the song "Do They Know It's Christmas". Following the boycott by the US of the Moscow Olympics the soviet block boycotts the Los Angeles Olympic games. Recession continues to be a problem in the US and 70 US Banks fail in just one year

Cost of Living 1984

How Much things cost in 1984
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 4.3 %
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 1211
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 10.75%
Average Cost of new house $86,730.00
Average Income per year $21,600.00
Average Monthly Rent $350.00
Movie Ticket $2.50
1 gallon of gas $1.10
Dodge RAM 50 Truck $8,995.00



What Events Happened in 1984

  • Indian Prime minister Indria Ghandi assassinated
  • Widespread Famine in Ethiopia after political conflict with charities believing as many as 10 million people are facing starvation
  • Hundreds die from the effects of toxic gases which leak from the Bhopal Union Carbide Factory
  • The UK and China agree Hong Kong will revert to China in 1997
  • A Man shoots 20 dead and wounds 16 in McDonalds Restaurant in San Ysidro California
  • A giant gas works explosion on the outskirts of Mexico City left 500 dead
  • The Olympic Games are held in Los Angeles
  • USSR And soviet block boycotts the Olympic games in retaliation for Western Boycott in 1980
  • A Union Carbide Pesticide plant in Bhopal India leaks the lethal gas killing more than 3,500
  • Twelve month long strike by coal miners begins in British coal industry, during the strike pickets and police clash multiple times at pits and collieries around the country.
  • WPC Yvonne Fletcher a London police officer is shot and killed by Libyan Diplomat
  • 700 year old wing of York Minster destroyed by fire
  • By the year end more than 70 US Banks fail
  • IRA Bomb goes off in Grand Hotel Brighton during Conservative Conference
  • Virgin Atlantic Inaugural flight .
  • Indian army troops sent into the Sikh rebel held Golden Temple compound in Amritsar
  • Ethiopian famine begins
  • (Subway Vigilante) Bernhard Goetz shoots four black youths on a Manhattan subway
  • Brunei Gains Independence From Great Britain
  • The Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, United States
  • The Winter Olympic Games are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

Popular Culture 1984

  • The MTV Video Music Awards Started
  • 36 of Britain and Ireland's top pop musicians gathered in a Notting Hill studio to form Band Aid and recorded the song "Do They Know It's Christmas" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia
  • Michael Jackson wins unprecedented acclaim for his Album Thriller and sales over 37 million copies

Popular Films

  • Ghostbusters
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  • Gremlins
  • Beverly Hills Cop
  • Terms of Endearment
  • The Karate Kid
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
  • Police Academy
  • Romancing the Stone
  • Splash
  • The Terminator
  • Amadeus
  • The Killing Fields
  • A Passage To India

Popular Musicians

  • Phil Collins
  • Alison Moyet
  • Billy Joel
  • Tina Turner with "What's Love got to do with it"
  • David Bowie
  • Wham! with "Wake Me up Before You Go"
  • Billy Ocean
  • UB40
  • Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called to say I love You"
  • Bruce Springsteen
  • Kenny Rogers
  • Bananarama
  • Duran Duran with "The Reflex"
  • Ultravox
  • Cars

Popular TV Programs

  • Magnum, P.I.
  • Dynasty
  • Entertainment Tonight
  • Falcon Crest
  • Hill Street Blues
  • Cagney and Lacey
  • Cheers
  • Fame
  • Knight Rider
  • The A-Team
  • Jeopardy!

Technology 1984

  • Aids Virus identified by French Immunologist
  • AT&T Broken Up
  • The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale
  • Sony and Philips introduce the first commercial CD Players
  • Sony makes the first 3 1/2" computer disk
  • The Space Shuttle Discovery has its maiden voyage
  • First Ever flight in Space by Human untethered using jet back Packs
  • Genetic fingerprinting or DNA profiling was developed and is now in wide by Forensic scientists when obtaining evidence in a crime



Research for this year is provided by The People History.
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Find out more about the 80s at ThePeopleHistory.com.