WORLD HISTORY · 1985 日本語
Events of 1985Showa 60 (Japan) · Year of the Ox
What happened in 1985?
In 1985, the telecommunications company NTT was launched, and Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in the mountains. The Plaza Accord sent the value of the yen soaring, and in the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev became the country's top leader.
- Gorbachev becomes Soviet leaderEurope
- Tsukuba Science Expo opensAsia
- State telecom privatized as NTTAsia
- Equal Employment Opportunity Act passedAsia
- JAL Flight 123 crashes on Osutaka RidgeAsia
- Mexico City earthquake strikesLatin America
- Plaza Accord sends yen soaringNorth America
- Windows 1.0 releasedNorth America
Tap an event to jump to it in the timeline below.
1985 at a glance
| Japanese era | Showa 60 |
|---|---|
| Chinese zodiac | Year of the Ox |
| Age of people born in 1985 | Turn 41 in 2026 |
| Previous / next year | 1984 (Showa 59) ／ 1986 (Showa 61) |
| Events | 105 |
| AP World History | Unit 8 (Cold War and Decolonization) |
| AP U.S. History | Period 9 |
Famous people born in 1985
Our birthday pages list 885 people born in 1985. Here are some of them.
- Bruno MarsBorn October 8 · turns 41 this year · American singer, songwriter, and producer behind hits like Just the Way You Are…
- Gal GadotBorn April 30 · turns 41 this year · Israeli actress who rose to worldwide fame playing the DC Comics superhero Wond…
- Michael PhelpsBorn June 30 · turns 41 this year · American swimmer who won 28 Olympic medals, including 23 golds, the most of any…
- Haruka AyaseBorn March 24 · turns 41 this year
- Cristiano RonaldoBorn February 5 · turns 41 this year
- Kenichi MatsuyamaBorn March 5 · turns 41 this year
- Miyuki SawashiroBorn June 2 · turns 41 this year
- Hikari MitsushimaBorn November 30 · turns 41 this year
- Aya UetoBorn September 14 · turns 41 this year
- Yū AoiBorn August 17 · turns 41 this year
- Luka ModrićBorn September 9 · turns 41 this year
- Michelle TrachtenbergBorn October 11 · turns 41 this year
Show 28 more
- James NortonBorn July 18 · turns 41 this year
- Lewis HamiltonBorn January 7 · turns 41 this year
- Kaley CuocoBorn November 30 · turns 41 this year
- Jeff CarterBorn January 1 · turns 41 this year
- KenohBorn January 1 · turns 41 this year
- Steven DavisBorn January 1 · turns 41 this year
- Tiago SplitterBorn January 1 · turns 41 this year
- Evan MooreBorn January 3 · turns 41 this year
- Linas KleizaBorn January 3 · turns 41 this year
- Nicole BeharieBorn January 3 · turns 41 this year
- Noelle QuinnBorn January 3 · turns 41 this year
- Al JeffersonBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Gökhan GönülBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Jung Sung-ryongBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Kari Aalvik GrimsbøBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Lenora CrichlowBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Ross TurnbullBorn January 4 · turns 41 this year
- Anthony StewartBorn January 5 · turns 41 this year
- Diego VeraBorn January 5 · turns 41 this year
- Filinga FiligaBorn January 5 · turns 41 this year
- Wayne RoutledgeBorn January 7 · turns 41 this year
- Juan Francisco TorresBorn January 9 · turns 41 this year
- Robert NilssonBorn January 10 · turns 41 this year
- Aja Naomi KingBorn January 11 · turns 41 this year
- Dennis DixonBorn January 11 · turns 41 this year
- Newton FaulknerBorn January 11 · turns 41 this year
- Artem MilevskyiBorn January 12 · turns 41 this year
- Borja ValeroBorn January 12 · turns 41 this year
Events of 1985 (timeline · 105)
Tip: the PC view is best for studying
On a computer, each region has its own vertical line, so you can follow the flow of events and see what was happening in different parts of the world at the same time.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashes into Mount Illimani in Bolivia, killing all 29 aboard.
The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba.
A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.
Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave the hospital.
China Airlines Flight 006 experiences an aircraft upset over the Pacific Ocean, injuring 24.
A Boeing 727 operating as Iberia Flight 610 crashes Mount Oiz in Spain, killing 148; it is the deadliest accident to occur in Iberia's history and the deadliest to occur in Basque County.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers.
A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless.
The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for HIV infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
Registration of the Filipino megachurch Christ's Commission Fellowship with the Philippine government, months after its first worship service in August 1984.
A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others.
Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state.
Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he is not released until December 1991.
Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the "Night Stalker", commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab.
Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites.
Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights.
The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
Police bomb MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses.
United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death"; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
Five member nations of the European Economic Community sign the Schengen Agreement establishing a free travel zone with no border controls.
Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador.
Braathens SAFE Flight 139 is hijacked on approach to Oslo Airport, Fornebu. Special forces arrest the hijacker and there are no fatalities.
A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, killing two and injuring four. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard.
Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.
An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 stalls and crashes near Uchkuduk, Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union), killing all 200 people on board in the USSR's worst-ever airline disaster.
Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney.
The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-51-F. The shuttle ends up in a lower orbit than planned due to an engine failure during ascent.
Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
Japan Air Lines Flight 123, a Boeing 747, crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, becoming the worst single-plane air disaster.
Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.
British Airtours Flight 28M suffers an engine fire during takeoff at Manchester Airport. The pilots abort but due to inefficient evacuation procedures 55 people are killed, mostly from smoke inhalation.
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 crashes near Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn, Maine, killing all eight people on board including peace activist and child actress Samantha Smith.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-51-I to deploy three communication satellites and repair a fourth malfunctioning one.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
The wreck of the Titanic is discovered by an American-French expedition led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel.
Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politicians and former MPs M. Alalasundaram and V. Dharmalingam are shot dead.
Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 crashes near Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing all 31 people on board.
Moimenta-Alcafache train crash, the worst railway accident to occur in Portugal.
Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.
Penang Bridge, the longest bridge in Malaysia, connecting the island of Penang to the mainland, opens to traffic.
Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa, John Denver, and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City.
Three civilians killed by alleged supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Larnaca yacht killings.
Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israel attacks the Palestine Liberation Organization's Tunisia headquarters during Operation Wooden Leg.
The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight, carrying two DSCS-III Satellites on STS-51-J.
Seven Israeli vacationers, including four children, are killed in a mass shooting at Ras Burqa in the Sinai Peninsula by an Egyptian soldier.
Police constable Keith Blakelock is murdered as riots erupt in the Broadwater Farm suburb of London.
Four men from the Palestine Liberation Front hijack the MS Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt.
US Navy aircraft intercept an Egyptian airliner carrying the perpetrators of the Achille Lauro hijacking, and force it to land in Italy.
The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aboriginals.
Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced as the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.
Colombian conflict: leftist guerrillas of the 19th of April Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá.
Garry Kasparov, 22, of the Soviet Union, becomes the youngest World Chess Champion by beating fellow Soviet Anatoly Karpov.
A Dassault Falcon 50 and a Piper PA-28 Cherokee collide in mid-air over Fairview, New Jersey, killing six people and injuring eight.
The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buries Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.
Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
Pennzoil wins a US$10.53 billion judgment against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in the history of the United States, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.
Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud.
Microsoft Windows 1.0, the first graphical personal computer operating environment developed by Microsoft, is released.
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.
A Soviet Air Force Antonov An-12 is shot down near Menongue in Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, killing 21.
Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-61-B, with Rodolfo Neri Vela becoming the first Mexican astronaut.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia, is established.
Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
Wilma Mankiller takes office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
Source: Wikipedia date pages ("January 1" … "December 31") / CC BY-SA 4.0. Regions are assigned by the site editors.
FAQ
What year was 1985 in the Japanese calendar?
1985 was Showa 60 in the Japanese era system.
What Chinese zodiac animal is 1985?
1985 is the Year of the Ox.
How old is someone born in 1985?
They turn 41 on their birthday in 2026.
What happened in 1985?
In 1985, the telecommunications company NTT was launched, and Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in the mountains. The Plaza Accord sent the value of the yen soaring, and in the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev became the country's top leader.
Dates and events are based on Wikipedia and other references. Summaries and regions are written by the site editors.