WHAT ALL HAPPENED JULY TO DECEMBER 1985
Find out what all happened July to December 1985

The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. (15. November 1985)

Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music. (19. September 1985)

Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day. (20. December 1985)

Manchester Air Disaster sees 55 people killed when a fire breaks out on a commercial aircraft at Manchester Airport. (22. August 1985)

The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. (20. July 1985)

Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud. (19. November 1985)

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. (19. November 1985)

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

Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of New York's Gambino crime family (16. December 1985)

Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts. (7. August 1985)

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. (21. November 1985)

Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time. (19. November 1985)

The White House Farm murders took place near the English village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England. (7. August 1985)

The Mameyes landslide kills close to 300 in the worst landslide in North American history. (7. October 1985)

A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes. (15. November 1985)

Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137. (2. August 1985)

Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, killing all 256 passengers and crew. (13. December 1985)

Capital gains tax is introduced in Australia, one of a number of tax reforms by the Hawke/Keating government. (20. September 1985)

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