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Events
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| January 1 | Brunei becomes a fully independent state. |
| January 1 | AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units |
| January 9 | Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's for the first time. |
| January 10 | The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations. |
| January 22 | The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to use a computer mouse and GUI interface, is introduced by Apple Computer corporation in a Super Bowl commercial evoking images from George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty-Four. |
| January 24 | The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale |
| February 3 | Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the tenth space shuttle mission. |
| February 7 | Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk. |
| February 13 | Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
| March 6 | Twelve month long strike in British coal industry begins See UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985) |
| March 14 | Gerry Adams seriously wounded in an assassination attempt |
| March 16 | CIA station chief stationed in Beirut, William Buckley, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity. |
| March 22 | Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California at charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges were later dropped as completely unfounded. |
| April 4 | President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. |
| May 8 | The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. |
| June 5 | The Indian government begins Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar. |
| June 30 | John Turner becomes Canada's seventeenth prime minister. |
| July 18 | In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gun-fire killing 21 people before being shot dead by police. |
| July 21 | In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States. |
| July 23 | Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in "Penthouse" magazine. |
| July 25 | Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk. |
| August 4 | The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso. |
| August 16 | Carmaker John DeLorean is acquitted of all eight counts of possessing and distributing cocaine. |
| September 17 | Brian Mulroney becomes Canada's eighteenth prime minister. |
| October 5 | Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger (41-6). |
| October 12 | Brighton bombing (attempt to assassinate the British Cabinet) |
| November | Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale in the U.S. presidential election |
| November 28 | William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States |
| December 19 | People's Republic of China and United Kingdom signs the Sino-British Joint Declaration which concerns with the future of Hong Kong. |
| -- | Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles California USA |
| -- | The influential rap group, the Ultramagnetic MCs, form in the Bronx. |
| -- | Ethiopian famine begins. |
| -- | The New International Version of the Bible is published. |
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1984 in film |
| -- | Amadeus |
| -- | Ghost Busters |
| -- | The Killing Fields |
| -- | Places in the Heart |
| May 23 | Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom |
| -- | Oscars awarded in 1984:
Academy Award, Best Picture: Terms of Endearment, James L. Brooks, producer (Paramount) |
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1984 in music |
| January 28 | Singer Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. |
| February 14 | Elton John marries studio engineer Renate Blauel. |
| February 16 | Jerry Lee Lewis surrenders to federal authorities on charges of income tax evasion. Lewis is later acquitted. |
| March | Sting plays his last concerts with The Police at the end of the Synchronicity tour; the band takes a "pause" after the tour and only play a few special events together after this. |
| April 1 | In Los Angeles, California, Marvin Gaye is shot and killed during an argument with his father. |
| May 1 | Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac, files for bankruptcy in the United States. |
| May | Tipper Gore forms the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in response to the "filth" she hears on her daughter's Prince album Purple Rain. |
| May 5 | The Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde marries Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr. |
| July | During his performance at the first ever Cornerstone Festival in Grayslake, Illinois, Steve Taylor falls from the stage, breaking his ankle. Taylor hopped back on stage and finished his show. The next few shows on Taylor's tour were performed from a wheel chair. |
| October | The Jesus & Mary Chain release their first single, "Upside Down". |
| October 19 | A-Ha's career begins with the release of the "Take On Me" single in the UK. |
| December 3 | Bob Geldof and Band Aid release the single "Do They Know It's Christmas". |
| -- | Menudo and Menudomania reach Asia. Ricky Martin substitutes Ricky Melendez in the group. |
| -- | Grammys awarded in 1984
Record of the Year: "Beat It," Michael Jackson
Album of the Year: Thriller, Michael Jackson (Epic/CBS)
Song of the Year: "Every Breath You Take," Sting, songwriter
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| -- | Top Hits
"Cover Me" - Bruce Springsteen
"Defenders Of Faith" - Judas Priest
"Drive" - The Cars
"Ghostbusters" - Ray Parker Jr.
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper
"Gone Daddy Gone" - Violent Femmes
"Heart Of Rock And Roll" - Huey Lewis & the News
"Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen
"I'm So Excited" - The Pointer Sisters
"I Just Called to Say I Love You" - Stevie Wonder
"Jump" - Van Halen
"Kiss Off" - Violent Femmes
"Let's Go Crazy" - Prince & the Revolution
"Like a Virgin" - Madonna
"Love Bites" - Judas Priest
"1984" - Van Halen
"No More Lonely Nights" - Paul McCartney
"Missing You" - John Waite
"The Reflex" - Duran Duran
"Time After Time" - Cyndi Lauper
"Tu Sabes a Chocolate" - Menudo
"Wake Me Up Before You Go" - Wham!
"What's Love Got to Do with It?" - Tina Turner
"When Doves Cry" - Prince & the Revolution |
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1984 in sports |
| January 14 | Ray Mancini stops 2 time world champion Bobby Chacon in the third round of a long awaited boxing fight, to retain the WBA's world Lightweight title. |
| January 22 | Super Bowl XVIII Los Angeles Raiders (38) def. Washington Redskins (9) |
| January 27 | Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world jumping record by 9-1/4 inches with a 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches jump. |
| February 8 | 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo |
| -- | World Series: Detroit d. San Diego (4-1) |
| -- | NBA Championship: Boston d. LA Lakers (4-3) |
| -- | Stanley Cup: Edmonton d. NY Islanders (4-1) |
| -- | Wimbledon: Women: Martina Navratilova d. C. Evert Lloyd (7-6 6-2)
Men: John McEnroe d. J. Connors (6-1 6-1 6-2) |
| -- | Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California |
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1984 in television |
| January 28 | Singer Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial |
| -- | Jeopardy! makes it's debut on NBC. |
| -- | The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. |
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Births |
| April 10 | Mandy Moore, singer, actress |
| April 18 | America Ferrera, actress |
| September 16 | Prince Harry of Wales, English prince |
| September 27 | Avril Lavigne, singer |
| November 9 | Delta Goodrem, actress, singer |
| November 21 | Jena Malone, actress |
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Deaths |
| January 20 | Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor. Most prominent as Tarzan. |
| February 9 | Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| February 15 | Ethel Merman, singer, actress |
| February 22 | Jessamyn West, writer |
| March 1 | Jackie Coogan, actor |
| March 5 | William Powell, actor |
| March 21 | Sir Michael Redgrave, actor |
| April 1 | Marvin Gaye, singer |
| April 22 | Ansel Adams, American photographer |
| April 26 | Count Basie, musician, composer |
| May 16 | Andy Kaufman, comedian |
| May 16 | Irwin Shaw, author |
| June 26 | Michel Foucault, philosopher |
| July 26 | Ed Gein, serial killer |
| September 25 | Walter Pidgeon, actor |
| October 12 | Sir Anthony Berry, British politician, along with three of the other victims of the Brighton bombing |
| October 20 | Paul Dirac, physicist |
| October 21 | François Truffaut, French film director
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Nobel Prizes
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| Physics | Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer |
| Chemistry | Robert Bruce Merrifield |
| Medicine | Niels K Jerne, Georges JF Köhler, César Milstein |
| Literature | Jaroslav Seifert |
| Peace | Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu |
| Economics | Richard Stone
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Source: http://www.wikipedia.org/
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