WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO NOVEMBER 1985
Find out what all happened January to November 1985

Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991. (16. March 1985)

The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buries Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people. (13. November 1985)

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 3 months. (23. April 1985)

Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission. (30. October 1985)

Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon. He will not be released until 1991. (9. June 1985)

William J. Schroeder becomes the first recipient of an artificial heart to leave hospital. (19. February 1985)

EastEnders BBC's flagship soap opera broadcasts for the first time. (19. February 1985)

The Space Shuttle Atlantis makes its maiden flight. (Mission STS-51-J). (3. October 1985)

The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida. (27. August 1985)

FBI siege on the compound of The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSAL) in Arkansas. (19. April 1985)

Brazilian military dictatorship ends. (15. March 1985)

Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9 crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31. (6. September 1985)

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. (7. January 1985)

The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization Headquarters in Tunis. (1. October 1985)

Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster. (12. August 1985)

TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Lebanese Islamist organization Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens, Greece. (14. June 1985)

The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York. (31. March 1985)

The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines. (26. October 1985)

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (20. March 1985)

The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon. (4. September 1985)