50 Fun Facts About 1983

Which astronaut became the first American woman in space on Challenger's STS-7 flight, aged just 32?

Sally Ride was only the third woman in space, after two Soviet cosmonauts, and NASA engineers infamously asked whether 100 tampons would be enough for her six-day flight.

Which Star Wars film, released on 25 May, was the year's highest-grossing film worldwide?

Return of the Jedi grossed $374 million worldwide in its first run, and the title Revenge of the Jedi had been dropped only in December 1982.

Which series ended with a 2½-hour finale watched by 106 million Americans on CBS, a record that stood until 2010?

M*A*S*H's 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' let CBS sell 30-second ad slots for $450,000 each, more than NBC charged during that year's Super Bowl.

Which robbery at a Heathrow warehouse netted three tonnes of gold from a gang expecting £1 million in pesetas?

Brink's-Mat's £26 million haul was partly laundered by Kenneth Noye, who melted the bars down and mixed in copper to disguise where the gold had come from.

Which trio of future Labour leaders won their first Commons seats in June's Thatcher landslide?

Blair, Brown and Corbyn arrived as Labour shed over three million votes on a manifesto Gerald Kaufman called 'the longest suicide note in history'.

Which Soviet duty officer judged a satellite warning of five incoming US missiles on 26 September to be a false alarm?

Stanislav Petrov reasoned that a real US first strike would mean hundreds of simultaneous launches, not five; the alarm was later traced to sunlight glinting off high-altitude clouds.

Which airline's Flight 007, New York to Seoul via Anchorage, was shot down by a Soviet fighter with 269 aboard?

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 had drifted into Soviet airspace with a US congressman aboard, and Reagan responded by ordering GPS opened to civilian use once it was ready.

Truck bombs killed 241 US servicemen and 58 French paratroopers at peacekeepers' barracks in which city on 23 October?

Beirut's twin bombings were France's worst military loss since the Algerian War, and within months the multinational peacekeeping force had pulled out of Lebanon altogether.

Which Caribbean island did the US invade in Operation Urgent Fury, citing 600 American medical students there?

Grenada's invasion involved nearly 8,000 US troops plus 353 Caribbean allies, and Reagan cited fears of a repeat of the Iran hostage crisis, which had ended less than three years earlier.

Which missile-defence programme, announced by Reagan on 23 March, was nicknamed 'Star Wars' after a Ted Kennedy jibe?

The Strategic Defense Initiative got its nickname from a newspaper report the next day of Kennedy's 'reckless Star Wars schemes' jibe, and George Lucas later sued two lobby groups over the term.

Which West German magazine paid 9.3 million marks for sixty Hitler diaries that proved to be Konrad Kujau forgeries?

Stern's scoop had been authenticated by the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, who changed his mind at the very press conference called to announce publication.

What did the Royal Mint introduce on 21 April to replace the paper pound note, withdrawn from circulation in 1988?

The £1 coin's reverse design changed each year until 2008, cycling through emblems of the UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, each with its own edge inscription.

Which ITV breakfast station launched on 1 February with a 'Famous Five' of presenter-shareholders led by David Frost?

TV-am brought its launch forward to answer the BBC's Breakfast Time, and a contracts mix-up revealed Angela Rippon was paid £60,000 a year against Anna Ford's £145,000.

An IRA car bomb outside which London department store killed six people on 17 December, a week before Christmas?

Harrods' bombers phoned a warning 37 minutes beforehand, but the area was not cleared, and the IRA Army Council said it had not authorised the attack.

From which prison did 38 IRA inmates break out of H-Block 7 on 25 September, the UK's biggest peacetime escape?

The Maze breakout was planned by Bobby Storey and Gerry Kelly, who took orderly jobs in H7 to study its weak points, and one prison officer died during it.

Which Derby winner, victorious by a record ten lengths, was kidnapped from the Aga Khan's Irish stud in February?

Shergar's kidnappers demanded £2 million and went unpaid, and a former IRA member later said the theft was an IRA operation to raise money for arms.

Whose self-titled debut album, released by Sire Records on 27 July, yielded 'Holiday', 'Lucky Star' and 'Borderline'?

Madonna's 'Holiday' had been offered to Mary Wilson of the Supremes and to Phyllis Hyman before it became her breakout single.

Which a cappella group of former actors took a cover of Yazoo's 'Only You' to the UK Christmas number one?

Flying Pickets' hit was reportedly a favourite of Margaret Thatcher, to the irony of a socialist band that went on to back the miners' strike she fought.

Which Brian De Palma remake of a 1932 gangster film cast Al Pacino as Cuban refugee Tony Montana?

Scarface's 'Say hello to my little friend' sits at 61 on AFI's list of movie quotes, and Oliver Stone modelled Montana on Bolivian 'King of Cocaine' Roberto Suárez Gómez.

Which Rowan Atkinson sitcom, first shown on BBC1 on 15 June, imagines a history in which Richard III won at Bosworth?

The Black Adder was written by Atkinson with Richard Curtis on a considerable budget, with location shooting at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.

Which ITV comedy-drama, launched on 11 November, followed seven British builders working on a site in Düsseldorf?

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet sprang from an idea by Mick Connell, a Stockton-on-Tees bricklayer, and starred Tim Healy, Kevin Whately, Jimmy Nail and Timothy Spall.

Which club, after a 2–2 draw immortalised by 'and Smith must score', beat Brighton 4–0 in the FA Cup final replay?

Manchester United's replay win was the first of Bryan Robson's three FA Cups as captain, and Brighton had already been relegated from the First Division that season.

Which Scottish club under Alex Ferguson beat Real Madrid 2–1 in Gothenburg to win the European Cup Winners' Cup?

Aberdeen's winner came from John Hewitt in the 112th minute, and some supporters had crossed the North Sea to Sweden by fishing boat.

Which Brazilian, 14 points behind Alain Prost with three races left, won the first Formula One title in a turbo car?

Nelson Piquet won back-to-back at Monza and Brands Hatch, then cruised to third in South Africa as Prost's Renault retired on lap 35, handing Brabham its last title.

Which American won the 100 metres, long jump and relay at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki?

Carl Lewis anchored the 4 × 100 m relay to a world record alongside 200 m champion Calvin Smith, a year before matching Jesse Owens' four Olympic golds in Los Angeles.

Which team beat the Miami Dolphins 27–17 in Super Bowl XVII, with John Riggins rushing for a record 166 yards?

The Washington Redskins won their first NFL title since 1942 at the end of a season cut to nine games by a players' strike, with Riggins named MVP.

Which horse, ridden by Ben de Haan, gave Jenny Pitman the first Grand National win by a woman trainer?

Corbiere held off Greasepaint by three-quarters of a length at Aintree, having shared the lead with Hallo Dandy between the 20th and 28th fences.

Which singer, born in Enfield on 14 September, became the first British woman to win five Grammys in one night?

Amy Winehouse's 2008 haul included Record of the Year and Song of the Year for 'Rehab', and she died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011.

Which actor, born in Melbourne on 11 August, went from Home and Away's Kim Hyde to Marvel's Thor?

Chris Hemsworth was raised partly in Bulman in the Northern Territory outback, where he says his most vivid childhood memories involve crocodiles and buffalo.

Which Ukrainian-born actress, born 14 August, was cast in That '70s Show at 14 after saying she 'would be 18'?

Mila Kunis moved to Los Angeles aged seven in 1991 on a religious-refugee visa, and she has voiced Meg Griffin on Family Guy since 1999.

Which actor, born in Saint Helier, Jersey, on 5 May, later played Superman in Man of Steel and Geralt in The Witcher?

Henry Cavill first met Russell Crowe, his future screen father in Man of Steel, as a 16-year-old schoolboy at Stowe when Crowe was filming there.

Which actress, born 23 February, beat a stutter through class plays before her Oscar nod for Oppenheimer?

Emily Blunt found that using voices other than her own let her speak fluently, and she has worked with the American Institute for Stuttering since 2006.

Which network made TCP/IP its standard on 1 January, a changeover its engineers called 'flag day'?

ARPANET's switch retired the older Network Control Protocol after the Pentagon made TCP/IP standard for all military computer networking.

Who succeeded Michael Foot as Labour leader on 2 October, at 41 the youngest in the party's history?

Neil Kinnock took 71.3% of the electoral college vote, with Roy Hattersley elected deputy to complete what the party billed as a left-right 'dream ticket'.

Who became the first African American in space on STS-8, the shuttle programme's first night launch and landing?

Guion Bluford flew on Challenger from 30 August and went on to three more shuttle missions, the first African American to go back a second, third and fourth time.

Which Canadian made the first maximum 147 break at the World Snooker Championship, in a match that finished at 3:51 am?

Cliff Thorburn's 147 came in the fourth frame against Terry Griffiths and started with a fluked red; exhausted, he went on to lose the final 18–6 to Steve Davis.

Which airline's Boeing 767 ran dry mid-flight after a pounds-kilograms mix-up and glided onto a Manitoba racetrack?

Air Canada Flight 143 glided from 41,000 feet to a former RCAF base at Gimli that had become a motorsports park, with no serious injuries among the 61 passengers.

Which team swept the Lakers in the NBA Finals after Moses Malone's playoff prediction of 'Fo, Fo, Fo'?

The Philadelphia 76ers' title was their first since 1967, and theirs and the 1989 Pistons' were the only championships of the decade not won by the Lakers or Celtics.

Which NASA probe crossed Neptune's orbit on 13 June, the first human-made object to pass beyond the major planets?

Pioneer 10 carries a gold-anodised aluminium plaque showing a nude man and woman and diagrams of the craft's origin, a message for any intelligent finder.

Which non-Eon Bond film brought back Sean Connery as 007 four months after Roger Moore's Octopussy?

Never Say Never Again was a remake of Thunderball made by Jack Schwartzman's Taliafilm, and despite a record October opening it earned less overall than its Eon rival.

Which Dirty Harry film, the only one Clint Eastwood directed himself, introduced the line 'Go ahead, make my day'?

Sudden Impact's 'make my day' was borrowed by Ronald Reagan in 1985 to threaten a veto on tax rises, and Eastwood ran for mayor of Carmel in 1986 under the slogan 'Go ahead — make me mayor'.

Which mother-daughter drama with Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger won five Oscars, including Best Picture?

Terms of Endearment also earned Best Actress for MacLaine and Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson as the boozy ex-astronaut Garrett Breedlove, and grossed $165 million to finish second at the year's box office.

Which singer and drummer, half of a sibling duo, died on 4 February aged 32 from complications of anorexia nervosa?

Karen Carpenter's death brought anorexia nervosa to wide public attention for the first time, and her family set up a foundation to fund research into eating disorders. She had been due to sign her divorce papers that morning.

Which Philippine opposition senator was shot dead on the tarmac at Manila airport on 21 August, back from US exile?

Ninoy Aquino's killing revived opposition to Ferdinand Marcos and pushed his widow Corazon into politics; she won the 1986 snap election, and Manila's airport was renamed after him in 1987.

Which Swede, winner of five straight Wimbledon titles, shocked tennis by retiring in January aged just 26?

Björn Borg had won 11 majors by 25 but lost all four US Open finals he reached; McEnroe tried in vain to talk him out of quitting, and a brief 1991 comeback went nowhere.

Which Kenny Rogers–Dolly Parton duet, written by the Bee Gees and named after a Hemingway novel, topped the US chart?

Islands in the Stream was first written for Diana Ross in an R&B style; the Rogers–Parton version led the Hot 100, the country chart and the adult contemporary chart, giving Parton her second pop number one after '9 to 5'.

Which theme park, the first Disney park built outside America, opened on 15 April?

Tokyo Disneyland and its companion park DisneySea are the only Disney parks in the world not owned by Disney: the Oriental Land Company built them and simply licenses the characters.

Which geneticist, working on maize at Cold Spring Harbor, won an unshared Nobel Prize in Medicine for 'jumping genes'?

Barbara McClintock was the first woman to win that prize unshared and the first American woman to take any unshared science Nobel; skepticism had made her stop publishing her transposon data, decades before the field caught up.

Which quarterback, born in Chico, California, on 2 December, was MVP of Super Bowl XLV for the Green Bay Packers?

Aaron Rodgers slid to the 24th pick of the 2005 draft and sat three seasons behind Brett Favre before taking over; he later became only the fifth player to win NFL MVP in consecutive seasons.

Who was crowned the first African-American Miss America on 17 September, then gave up the title over Penthouse photos?

Vanessa Williams went on to a number-one single with 'Save the Best for Last' and three Emmy nominations as Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty; the pageant apologised to her on stage 32 years later.