Read this year's headlines in our monthly calendar of events and discover snippets about everyday life with our FLASHBACK facts. It's time to go back to the i... It's time to go back to... 1983.
Timeline '83 Close All
January |
Britain's first-ever breakfast television show Breakfast Time launches on BBC1 |
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Armed police shoot and severely injure Stephen Waldorf mistaking him for a dangerous criminal on the run |
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It is now illegal for drivers and front-seat passengers not to wear car seatbelts |
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EEC-registered boats are able to fish in British waters as the Common Fisheries Policy is effected |
 |
Comedian Dick Emery famous for his long-running sketch show (1963-81) dies of heart failure aged 67 |
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Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Aldo Moro (see May 1978) |
 |
U2 release New Year's Day – the group's first Top 10 hit |
McDonald's introduces chicken McNuggets
February |
Dennis Nilsen is arrested on suspicion of murder after dismembered human remains are found at his block of flats |
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TV-am broadcasts for the first time – its "famous five" presenters are Michael Parkinson, David Frost, Angela Rippon, Anna Ford and Robert Kee |
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Liberal Simon Hughes defeats Labour’s Peter Tatchell to win the Bermondsey by-election |
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American sitcom Cheers makes its British television debut on Channel 4 |
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Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa aged 32 |
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Over 18M tune in for a Coronation Street episode making it the most watched TV programme of the year |
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Marillion's He Knows You Know scrapes into the Top 40 |
Total singles sales drop 6% to 74M
March |
Newly launched TV-AM is in crisis as viewing figures slump to just 300,000 prompting boss Peter Jay to quit |
 |
The compact disc (CD) goes on sale for the first time in the UK |
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British Leyland launches its family hatchback the Austin Maestro |
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Anthony Blunt – one of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies – dies aged 75 |
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Ian MacGregor is appointed as head of the National Coal Board – there are fears he will close pits and cut jobs |
 |
"Sterling's Blackest Day" (Daily Mirror) - the pound dips below $1.50 for the first time |
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Billie Jean by Michael Jackson is No. 1 |
At Rubelows a Sony CD player costs £549.99 (that's over £1,800 today)
April |
The United States embassy in Beirut is bombed killing 63 people |
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In a six page world-exclusive the Sunday Times publishes the "Hitler Diaries" |
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The biggest cash haul in British history sees gunmen escape with £7 million from a Security Express van in London |
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The pound coin is introduced in England and Wales – the note will be withdrawn five years later |
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Israel wins the Eurovision Song Contest – Britain finishes sixth with I'm Never Giving Up by Sweet Dreams |
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Richard Attenborough's Gandhi wins eight Oscars including Best Picture |
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Michael Jackson's Beat It is No.3 as the album Thriller is a global smash |
From the ad pages: "Every bubble's passed its fizzical" (Corona soft drinks)
May |
The Sunday Times accepts that forensic tests prove that the “Hitler Diaries” are forgeries |
 |
Top of the Pops celebrates its 1000th edition – Spandau Ballet are No. 1 with True |
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Margaret Thatcher is interrogated on the sinking of the Belgrano by teacher Diana Gould on BBC's Nationwide |
 |
The 100th FA Cup is won by Tottenham Hotspur after they defeat Manchester City in a replay |
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In London the first cars are wheel clamped for illegal parking |
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Manager Bob Paisley retires after steering Liverpool to a 14th league championship |
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Steve Davis beats Cliff Thorburn to claim his second snooker World Championship |
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Heaven 17's memorable dance track Temptation is No. 2 |
Unemployment averages 3.10M this year
June |
Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives win a landslide majority in the general election |
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After travelling for 11 years Pioneer 10 is the first spacecraft to pass the orbit of Neptune |
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Blackadder starring Rowan Atkinson debuts on BBC One |
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Sally Ride is the first American woman in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger |
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Return of the Jedi – the final part of the Star Wars trilogy – is showing in UK cinemas |
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India wins the Cricket World Cup by defeating the West Indies by 43 runs |
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The Police have their last No. 1 with Every Breath You Take |
From the ad pages: "Naughty but nice" (real diary cream)
July |
Popular actor David Niven dies of motor neurone disease aged 73 |
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Heatwave Britain – the monthly mean temperature of 19.5 °C breaks a 200-year record |
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Twenty people are killed when a British Airways helicopter crashes on its way to the Scilly Isles |
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The A-Team starring George Peppard and Mr T premieres on ITV |
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The lowest-ever global temperature of −89.2 °C is recorded in Antarctica |
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John McEnroe defeats unseeded Kiwi Chris Lewis to win his third singles title at Wimbledon |
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Tom Robinson's beguiling War Baby reaches the Top 10 |
The average house price is £28,623
August |
New cars are registered with A-prefix number plates replacing the suffix system that began in 1963 |
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A six-year-old boy is raped by three men at a Brighton beauty spot – public reward money soon tops £30k |
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At the inaugural Athletics World Championships Steve Cram wins the men’s 1500m |
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Cult student quiz show Blockbusters hosted by Bob Holness is launched on ITV |
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BBC2’s marathon 15-hour pop show Rock Around Clock first airs featuring Ultravox, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and The Police |
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After 14 years the final edition of Nationwide airs on BBC1 |
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The Sun Goes Down for Thin Lizzy is their last hit before Phil Lynott's death |
From the ad pages: "Even the specification sounds good" (Sony CD player)
September |
USSR admits downing South Korean flight 007 that had strayed into its airspace – all 269 on board perished |
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After playing Elsie Tanner for 23 years Pat Phoenix announces she is quitting Coronation Street |
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Thirty-eight IRA prisoners escape from Prison Maze in Northern Ireland – only half are later apprehended |
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Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov averts nuclear war by correctly identifying an attack warning as a false alarm |
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Two men die during a mass brawl between rival Hell’s Angels gangs at Windsor |
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England lose 1–0 to Denmark at Wembley ending their hopes of qualifying for Euro 1984 in France |
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Blue Monday by New Order returns to the Top 40 after months on the chart |
The government starts subsidizing the purchase of computers by primary schools
October |
Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party and Roy Hattersley is his deputy |
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Cecil Parkinson resigns from the Cabinet following revelations about an affair |
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Veteran DJ and Top Of The Pops presenter Pete Murray loses his job allegedly for defending the Falklands War on air |
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Richard Noble sets a new land speed record driving Thrust2 in the Nevada desert |
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US troops invade Grenada – a Caribbean Island and member of the Commonwealth |
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Nelson Piquet wins his second F1 Championship Brabham BMW |
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Chance by Big Country is the group's second Top 10 hit this year |
The Ford Escot is this year’s best-selling car – and will be for the rest of the decade
November |
Over £26M worth of gold bullion is taken from the Brinks-Mat vault at Heathrow Airport |
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The US cruise missiles arrive at RAF Greenham Common amid strong protests |
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The UK "invades" the US charts – over one third of the Billboard 100 are by British acts |
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Game show The Sale of the Century closes down after a stint of 12 years on ITV |
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Microsoft announces Windows 1.0 will be available in two years |
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Compilation album Now That’s What I Call Music is released for the first time – its roster of 11 No. 1s has not been bettered |
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After a 10-year absence Tina Turner is back in the charts with Let's Stay Together |
The mortgage rate is 11.25%
December |
An IRA car bomb kills six Christmas shoppers and injures 90 outside Harrods in London |
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The eagerly-awaited video of Michael Jackson's Thriller premieres on Channel 4 |
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Three Of A Kind star Tracey Ullman marries TV tycoon Allan McKeown |
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On the back of her hit single Let's Stay Together Tina Turner embarks on a sell-out UK tour and appears on a Tube Christmas special |
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The Jules Rimet World Cup – awarded to Brazil after their third world cup win in 1970 – is stolen in Rio de Janeiro and feared melted down |
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The first heart and lung transplant carried out in Britain at Harefield Hospital |
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The Smiths have their debut hit with This Charming Man |
A Top 40 LP or cassette will cost you £4.49 or less at WHSmith