January 24 – An
earthquake of
Ms6.8 magnitude in
Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.[8]
January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town
Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the
Great Karoo.
February 24 – A powerful
Ms6.7 magnitude earthquake hits
Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in
Corinth and the nearby towns of
Loutraki,
Kiato and
Xylokastro.
May 15 – A prison officer, 31-year-old
Donna Payant, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer
Lemuel Smith. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.[19]
June 10 – Alfredo Rampi, a 6-year-old boy, falls into an artesian well in Vermicino, near Rome. After nearly three days of failed rescue attempts followed with bated breath from all over Italy, Alfredino dies inside the well, at a depth of 60 meters (200 ft).
The
E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation is unveiled at NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model Serial Number 001 is issued to
Stevie Wonder.[24]
July 16–
21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the
follow-on when they beat Australia by 18 runs at
Headingley cricket ground, Leeds, England.
Israeli aircraft bomb
Beirut,
destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of
PLO-associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.[29]
August 27 – North Korea fires a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird spy plane flying in South Korean and international airspace. The missile misses and the airplane is unharmed.[37]
September 7 – British plantation company
Guthrie is taken over by the
Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'.[40]
The John Bull becomes the oldest operable
steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
December 20 – The
Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West
Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.[55]
^Shakila Yacob; Nicholas White (May 2011). "The 'Unfinished Business' of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie 'Dawn Raid'". Modern Asian Studies. 44 (5).
^Council of Europe (2004). The Death Penalty: Beyond Abolition. Council of Europe Pub. p. 196.
ISBN9789287153333.
^Tickler, Peter (1987). The modern mercenary : dog of war, or soldier of honour. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire New York, N.Y: P. Stephens Distributed by Sterling Pub. Co. p. 100.
ISBN9780850598124.
January 24 – An
earthquake of
Ms6.8 magnitude in
Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.[8]
January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town
Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the
Great Karoo.
February 24 – A powerful
Ms6.7 magnitude earthquake hits
Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in
Corinth and the nearby towns of
Loutraki,
Kiato and
Xylokastro.
May 15 – A prison officer, 31-year-old
Donna Payant, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer
Lemuel Smith. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.[19]
June 10 – Alfredo Rampi, a 6-year-old boy, falls into an artesian well in Vermicino, near Rome. After nearly three days of failed rescue attempts followed with bated breath from all over Italy, Alfredino dies inside the well, at a depth of 60 meters (200 ft).
The
E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation is unveiled at NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model Serial Number 001 is issued to
Stevie Wonder.[24]
July 16–
21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the
follow-on when they beat Australia by 18 runs at
Headingley cricket ground, Leeds, England.
Israeli aircraft bomb
Beirut,
destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of
PLO-associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.[29]
August 27 – North Korea fires a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird spy plane flying in South Korean and international airspace. The missile misses and the airplane is unharmed.[37]
September 7 – British plantation company
Guthrie is taken over by the
Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'.[40]
The John Bull becomes the oldest operable
steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
December 20 – The
Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West
Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.[55]
^Shakila Yacob; Nicholas White (May 2011). "The 'Unfinished Business' of Malaysia's Decolonisation: The Origins of the Guthrie 'Dawn Raid'". Modern Asian Studies. 44 (5).
^Council of Europe (2004). The Death Penalty: Beyond Abolition. Council of Europe Pub. p. 196.
ISBN9789287153333.
^Tickler, Peter (1987). The modern mercenary : dog of war, or soldier of honour. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire New York, N.Y: P. Stephens Distributed by Sterling Pub. Co. p. 100.
ISBN9780850598124.