1983

HISTORY & POLITICS

High ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia & officially charged with war crimes.

Wah Mee massacre: 13 people are killed in an attempted robbery in Seattle, Washington.

Strategic Defense Initiative: U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars."

The U.S. Embassy is bombed in Beirut, killing 63 people.

Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 and causing over US$3.8 billion (2005 dollars) in damage.

Vanessa Williams becomes the first African-American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Microsoft Word is first released.

Martin Luther King Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

McDonald's introduces the McNugget.

Harold Washington is elected the first African American mayor of Chicago.

MUSIC

Every Breath You Take - Police
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Flashdance . . . What A Feeling - Irene Cara
Down Under - Men At Work
Beat It - Michael Jackson
Africa - Toto
Talking in Your Sleep - The Romantics
Maniac - Michael Sembello
Electric Avenue - Eddy Grant
True - Spandau Ballet
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
Jeopardy - Greg Kihn Band
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me - Culture Club
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Making Love Out of Nothing at All - Air Supply
She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
China - Red Rockers
Too Shy - Kajagoogoo
In a Big Country - Big Country

TELEVISION

 The A-Team: Starring: George Peppard, Dwight Schultz, Mr. T, & Dirk Benedict
Four Vietnam vets, framed for a crime they didn't commit, help the innocent while on the run from the military.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe [cartoon]: The most powerful man in the universe, He-Man, goes against the evil forces of Skeletor to save the planet Eternia and to protect the secrets of Castle Grayskull with the help of his friends, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Orko, and Battlecat.
   
Fraggle Rock [muppets]: Doc and his dog Sprocket have a hole in their wall, behind which live little furry creatures known as Fraggles in a place called Fraggle Rock. The Rock is also home to the Doozers (who are knee-high to a Fraggle) and the Gorgs (who are giants that think they rule the Rock). One gang of Fraggles (Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red), under the guidance of the all-knowing Trash Heap (Marjorie), learn about each other and their neighbors and eventually befriend the Doozers, the Gorgs--and even Doc and Sprocket. Meanwhile, Gobo's Uncle Matt explores Outer Space (our world) and sends postcards to his nephew about the Silly Creatures (that's us).
   
Alvin & the Chipmunks [cartoon]: Three chipmunk brothers, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, have been adopted by and are living with Dave (a human). Each show finds the boys getting into trouble and new and unusual situations.
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MOVIES

Flashdance: Starring: Jennifer Beals
A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school.

WarGames: Starring: Matthew Broderick
A young computer whizz kid accidentally connects into a top secret super-computer which has complete control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It challenges him to a game between America and Russia, and he innocently starts the countdown to World War 3. Can he convince the computer he wanted to play a game and not the real thing?
 
Octopussy: Starring: Robert Moore, Maud Adams
A Faberge Egg found with a murdered British agent puts Bond on the trail that leads to a plot to kill thousands to weaken NATO defenses in Europe.
 
Sudden Impact: Starring: Clint Eastwood
A rape victim is exacting revenge on her aggressors in a small town outside San Francisco. Dirty Harry, on suspension for angering his superiors (again), is assigned to the case.
 
The Big Chill: Starring: Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline
A group of seven former college friends gather for a weekend reunion at a posh South Carolina winter house after the funeral of one of their friends.
 
Never Say Never Again: Starring: Sean Connery
A SPECTRE agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated.
 
Scarface: Starring: Al Pacino as Tony Montana
In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug empire while succumbing to greed.
 
SPORTS

Björn Borg retires from tennis after winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon championships.

Indianapolis 500: Tom Sneva wins his first race after three previous runner-up finishes.

George Brett (former 3rd baseman for the Kansas City Royals) is expelled from a baseball game in Yankee Stadium, New York, after charging an umpire who called him out for having more pine tar on his bat than technically allowed.

New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup.

Sunny's Halo wins the Kentucky Derby with a time of 2:02.20.

Laurent Fignon (France) wins the Tour de France.

PEOPLE WHO DIED


George Cukor (b. 1899) - Film Director - My Fair Lady, Dinner at Eight, Little Women, David Copperfield, Romeo and Juliet, Camille, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story
Karen Carpenter (b. 1950) - Singer and 1/2 of the duo The Carpenters
Tennessee Williams (b. 1911) - Playwright who wrote The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
Jack Dempsey (b. 1895) - World heavyweight boxer
Norma Shearer (b. 1902) - Actress - The Divorcee, Romeo & Juliet, Marie Antoinette
David Niven (b. 1910) - Actor - Around the World in Eighty Days, Pink Panther, Casino Royale, Separate Tables
Joan Hackett (b. 1934) - Actress - as Catherine Allen in the western Will Penny & won a Golden Globe best supporting actress in Only When I Laugh (1982)
Slim Pickens (b. 1919) - Actor - best know as the B-52 pilot Major T.J. "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove who rode the H-bomb.

PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN

Kate Bosworth - Actress - as Anne Marie Chadwick in Blue Crush, Rosalee Futch in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, & Sandra Dee in Beyond the Sea
Amber Tamblyn - Actress - as Joan Girardi on Joan of Arcadia, Emily Quartermain on General Hospital, Tabitha "Tibby" Tomko-Rollins in The Siterhood of the Traveling Pants, Aubrey Davis in The Grudge 2
Michelle Branch - Singer as a pop soloist "Everywhere," "All You Wanted," & "Breathe" and as part of the duo of the country group The Wreckers
Gregory Smith - Actor - as Ephram Brown on Everwood, Alan Abernathy in Small Soldiers, Thomas Martin in The Patriot