random retro-spective
Victory for New Labour
Tony Blair is the new Prime Minister - the youngest of the 20th century, 1997
the retro hour: 1982
We've been through the archive and compiled everything we think you need to know about the year. To make it easier for you to find what you're looking for, everything is organised into categories.
the top stories
Mark Thatcher went missing in the Sahara desert during the Paris to Dakar
rally
78 people died when a passenger jet crashed taking off from Washington
Laker Airways collapsed
The firm Mercury received a licence to operate in competition with British
Telecom
The space shuttle Columbia was launched on its third mission
The first test-tube twins were born in Cambridge
The capital of Zimbabwe was renamed Harare
Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Argentina: this was the time
of the Falklands War
Sophia Loren was imprisioned for tax evasion
Roy Jenkins was elected as leader of the SDP
on the chart
Randy Crawford won the Brit for Best Female. The Best Male award went
to Cliff Richard. The Police won the award for Best Group.
The Jam and Blondie split up
The Graceland mansion in Memphis opened to the public
The Eurovision Song Contest winner was Nicole from West Germany with Ein
Bisschen Frieden (A Little Peace).
on the tv and at the cinema
The ITV stations Central, TV South and TV South West went on air, replacing
ATV, Southern and Westwood
Channel Four Television went on air: the first programme was Countdown
starring the late Richard Whiteley
On BBC2, The Young Ones showed student life through the eyes of Rick,
Vyvian, Neil and Mike.
The Boys From The Black Stuff, based on the novel by Alan Bleasdale, featured
a group of Liverpool tarmac layers who were on the dole and desparate
David Hasselhoff starred as Michael Knight in Knight Rider
Top TV shows were Coronation Street, This Is Your Life, Hart to Hart and
The Benny Hill Show
This was the year everyone was crying as ET went home
America actor Henry Fonda died, aged 77
The Oscar for Best Picture went to Chariots
Of Fire - it also won the BAFTA for Best Film.
Top films of '82 were Blade Runner, Arthur, Gregory's Girl, Condorman,
Tootsie and Annie.
Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner split up
Sophia Loren was jailed for tax evasion
sports achievements and milestones
The TCCB banned 15 English cricketers for their rebel tour of South Africa
Italy won the World Cup, beating West Germany 3-1
Spurs beat QPR 1-0 in the FA Cup Final replay
Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova won the Wimbledon singles titles
The Grand National at Aintree was won by Grittar
In Formula 1 Keke Rosberg was world champion
Tom Watson won the Open golf championship
and finally
The inland telegram service ended
The wreck of the Mary Rose was lifted from the sea bed
The 20p coin went into circulation
Police found a pair of trousers stolen from Sir Geoffrey Howe while he
was asleep on a train!
The Barbican Arts Centre in London opened.
New words included airhead (an unintelligent person) and back-up (to copy
computer data onto another source in case of a crash)