Explore 5464 historical events from 1980–1989.
Brigadier-General Paul Triquet was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the presence of the enemy that can be award…
Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1910)
Jacqueline Cochran was an American pilot and business executive. She pioneered women's aviation and was the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. Cochran was the w…
Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot (born 1906)
Ruby Hurley was an American civil rights activist. She was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and administrator for the NAACP, and was known as the "queen of civil rights".
Ruby Hurley, American civil rights activist (born 1909)
Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was a Pakistani general who served as the third president of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, under martial law. His presidency oversaw a civil war in East Paki…
Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (born 1917)
Paul Charles Jules Robert was a French lexicographer and publisher, best known for his large Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française (1953), often called sim…
Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (born 1910)
Joseph Ira Dassin was an American singer-songwriter. He sang in multiple languages but found his greatest successes in France and the French-speaking world. In total, he sold nearl…
Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (born 1938)
James Smith "Mac" McDonnell Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, and businessman. He was an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Dougla…
James Smith McDonnell, American pilot, engineer, and businessman, founded McDonnell Aircraft (born 1899)
Yootha Joyce Needham, known as Yootha Joyce, was a British actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom Man About the House (1973–1976) and its …
Yootha Joyce, English actress (born 1927)
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.
Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (born 1919)
Rosa Albach-Retty was an Austrian film and stage actress.
Rosa Albach-Retty, German-Austrian actress (born 1874)
Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten, known professionally as Dorothy Stratten, was a Canadian model and actress, primarily known for her appearances as a Playboy Playmate. Stratten was the Pl…
Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (born 1960)
Otto Heinrich Frank was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 and advised on its later theatrical and c…
Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman, father of Anne Frank (born 1889)
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American animator, film director and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American ani…
Tex Avery, American animator, director, and voice actor (born 1908)
Douglas Clark Francis Kenney was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film, who co-founded the magazine National Lampoon in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine…
Douglas Kenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1947)
Barbara O'Neil was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for he…
Barbara O'Neil, American actress (born 1910)
Renault Renaldo Duncan, better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950–1956 American…
Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1904)
Donald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.
Don Banks, Australian composer and educator (born 1923)
Willard Frank Libby was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology and palaeontology.…
Willard Libby, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908)
William John Evans was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His extensive use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative ch…
Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (born 1929)
Jean William Fritz Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called ge…
Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (born 1896)
Katherine Anne Porter was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, poet, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in t…
Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (born 1890)
Jacobus Johannes Fouché, also known as J. J. Fouché, was a South African politician who served as the second state president of South Africa from 1968 to 1975.
Jim Fouché, State President of South Africa (born 1898)
John Howard Griffin was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about and championed racial equality. He is best known for his 1959 project to temporarily pass as a …
John Howard Griffin, American journalist and author (born 1920)
Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle was a Nicaraguan politician, military officer, hydraulic engineer, and dictator who served as the 53rd President of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972 a…
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan commander and politician, 73rd President of Nicaragua (born 1925)