1980 Republican National Convention	The films of the 1980s
Moscow Olympics 1980	1980 - UK Top 40 Singles

Bill Gates, 32 year old founder of Microsoft becomes microcomuptings first billionaire Bill Gates, the co-founder and chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, has certainly reached legend status and not only because he is considered as the world's richest man. As the moving force behind a company that is considered "The Most Innovative Company Operating in the U.S." (1993, Forbes magazines), Gates is certainly in a league of his own. With Gates at the helm, Microsoft launched a number of revolutionary technological advancements that have changed the face of the computer industry and the way people around the world use computers History has acknowledged Microsoft's great contributions and has judged Mircrosoft to be the first truly dominant player in home computer operating systems . Even today, Microsoft's influence is felt around the world through the broad usage of Microsoft Windows, currently the most widely used operating system in the world. Argentina invaded the British territory of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. The islands, off the coast of Argentina, have been a cause of friction between the two countries since Britain claimed them in 1833. The Argentine flag is now flying over Government House in the Falkland Islands' capital, Port Stanley. The head of the country's military junta, General Leopoldo Galtieri, has welcomed the "recovery" of "Las Malvinas" - the Argentine name for the Falklands. General Galtieri said Argentina had been left with no option other than military action. The invasion followed months of sabre-rattling and a build-up over the past few days of Argentine war ships off the Falkland Islands, home to about 1,800 people. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has chosen to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1984 to Bishop Desmond Tutu, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. The Committee has attached importance to Desmond Tutu's role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa. The means by which this campaign is conducted is of vital importance for the whole of the continent of Africa and for the cause of peace in the world. Through the award of this year's Peace Prize, the Committee wishes to direct attention to the non-violent struggle for liberation to which Desmond Tutu belongs, a struggle in which black and white South Africans unite to bring their country out of conflict and crisis. The worst civil nuclear catastrophe in history occurred at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Soviet Union (which is now in Ukraine). More than thirty people were killed immediately. The radiation release was thirty to forty times that of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people were ultimately evacuated from the most heavily contaminated zone surrounding Chernobyl. Radiation spread to encompass almost all of Europe and Asia Minor; the world first learned of the disaster when a nuclear facility in Sweden recorded abnormal radiation levels. Chernobyl had four RBMK-type reactors. These reactors suffer from instability at low power and are susceptible to rapid, difficult-to-control power increases. The accident occurred as workers were testing reactor number four. The test was being conducted improperly; as few as six control rods were in place despite orders stating that a minimum of thirty rods were necessary to maintain control, and the reactor's emergency cooling system had been shut down as part of the test. An operator error caused the reactor's power to drop below specified levels, setting off a catastrophic power surge that caused fuel rods to rupture, triggering explosions that first destroyed the reactor core and then blew apart the reactors' massive steel and concrete containment structure. The health impacts of the Chernobyl explosion will never be fully known. It is estimated that some three million people still live in contaminated areas and almost ten thousand people still live in Chernobyl itself. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 culminating in the Tiananmen Square Massacre (referred to in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident, to avoid confusion with two other Tiananmen Square protests) were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China (PRC) beginning on April 14. Led mainly by students and intellectuals, the protests occurred in a year that saw the collapse of a number of communist governments around the world. The protests were sparked by the death of pro-market and pro-democracy official, Hu Yaobang, whom protesters wanted to mourn. By the eve of Hu's funeral, it had reached 100,000 people on the Tiananmen square. While the protests lacked a unified cause or leadership, participants were generally against the government's authoritarianism and voiced calls for economic change  and democratic reform within the structure of the government. The demonstrations centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, but large-scale protests also occurred in cities throughout China, including Shanghai, which stayed peaceful throughout the protests. The movement lasted seven weeks from Hu's death on 15 April until tanks cleared Tiananmen Square on 4 June. In Beijing, the resulting military response to the protesters by the PRC government left many civilians dead or injured. The official death toll according to the Chinese government was 200 to 300, but Chinese student associations and the Chinese Red Cross reported 2,000 to 3,000 deaths The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany), including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany. Both borders came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc. The wall separated East Germany from West Germany for more than a quarter-century, from the day construction began on 13 August 1961 until the Wall was opened on 9 November 1989. During this period, at least 98 people were confirmed killed trying to cross the Wall into West Berlin, according to official figures. However, a prominent victims' group claims that more than 200 people were killed trying to flee from East to West Berlin. The East German government issued shooting orders to border guards dealing with defectors, though such orders are not the same as shoot to kill orders which GDR officials denied ever issuing. The fall of the Berlin Wall started in Hungary, where a reformist government started (May 2) to dismantle the Iron Curtain, with symbolic moments like the so called Paneuropean picnic (August 19) and the Austrian-Hungarian governmental meeting (August 23). On September 11 thousands of East Germans started to cross the Austrian-Hungarian border to emigrate to West Germany. That event caused popular demonstration and a irreversible political crisis in the government of GDR. When the East German government announced on 9 November 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters; industrial equipment was later used to remove almost all of the rest of it. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990. "Wind Beneath My Wings" is a U.S. number-one single performed by Bette Midler from the soundtrack of the film Beaches. Written by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, it was named Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1990. Written by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, the song was first offered to Kenny Rogers who turned it down (but later recorded a version on his "Love Songs" album in 1997). Coincidentally, it was Rogers who presented Midler's Grammy for the song. Although the song has become primarily associated with Bette Midler, other versions of the song were released to the public years before Midler's. Sheena Easton (on her album Madness, Money and Music) and Roger Whittaker both released versions of the song in 1982, though neither had a hit with it. The song entered various U.S. charts the following year in versions by Gary Morris, Gladys Knight & the Pips (their version was released under the title "Hero"), and Lou Rawls (whose version was a top ten Adult Contemporary hit). Because of the songs soaring imagery and the extreme earnestness of Midler's iconic performance, the song has become ripe for parody

When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 romantic comedy film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet on a cross-country carpool ride, through twelve years or so of chance encounters in New York City. The film raises the question "Can men and women ever just be friends?" and advances many ideas about love that have become household concepts now, such as the "high-maintenance" girlfriend and the "transitional person". The origins of the film came from Reiner's return to single life after a divorce. Ephron interviewed Reiner and it provided the basis for Harry. Sally was based on Ephron and some of her friends. Crystal came on board and made his own contributions to the screenplay, making Harry funnier. Ephron supplied the structure of the film with much of the dialogue based on the real-life friendship between Reiner and Crystal. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr., with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman. Connick won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance. Israeli tanks and troops today invaded southern Lebanon after Hizbullah captured two soldiers and killed several others. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, described the capture of the soldiers an "act of war" by Lebanon, with today's developments compounding the ongoing political crisis over an abducted Israeli soldier being held in Gaza. Palestinian militants holding Corporal Gilad Shalit have demanded that all Palestinian women and young people held in Israeli jails be freed in exchange for his release. The Bush administration blamed Syria and Iran for today's kidnappings and violence, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers. Hizbullah said it would not release them until Israel agreed to set free all Arab prisoners. Its capture of the soldiers is a huge political embarrassment to Mr Olmert, coming only weeks after the seizure of Cpl Shalit last month. He will be concerned that Hamas and Hizbullah could start working together to demand the release of prisoners as a condition for freeing the missing soldiers.  Orson Welles, a man with a talent and imagination so prodigious that he spanned radio, films, television, books and theater and excelled in them all? From his first film masterpiece, CITIZEN KANE -- more often than not described as one of the best movies ever made -- to his checkered career fighting for funding to realize his directorial vision, Welles stands alone, holding a special place in the pantheon of cinematic greats. Welles himself (in F FOR FAKE) made the self-deprecating remark, "I began at the top and have been working my way down ever since," referring to the popular misconception that his post-KANE career somehow never delivered on his initial promise. In reality, Welles delivered again and again on that promise, in such dazzling and unexpected ways that audiences, critics and other filmmakers are still trying to catch up. Orson Welles (b.1915) American film maker died in 1984 It was a polar surge in 1986 that caused the destruction of the space shuttle ‘Challenger’. On the morning of 28th January 1986 large quantities of ice coated the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. NASA decided to go ahead with the launch despite the warnings from the manufacturers of the solid rocket boosters that the ‘O’ rings might not perform their function of sealing possible fuel links at such cold temperatures. Sadly the engineers were proved right as the world watched Challenger explode shortly after lift off. Over the North American continent there is nothing to stop the southerly movement of this extremely cold air as there is nothing but flat, open land. This movement south is known as a polar surge. This blast of icy cold air is huge and over North America can reach as far south as Florida and Texas, devastating crops and freezing land sometimes overnight. In 1983-84 a polar surge left almost 90 percent of the USA covered in cold air for nearly two months. In Utah a record low temperature of -54 degrees C (-65 degrees F) was measured. Mel Gibson - Whatever your personal views are about this man, it is undeniable that he has left behind the mark of a true Alpha Man. From the enticing charm displayed in Lethal Weapon, to his body beautiful in Braveheart and Maverick, to the tall, strong and silent strength in The Road Warrior, you can not help but admire him. Also important to note is his typical alpha trait of hard-core aggression and initiative: he gets his movies made! "Heaven Is a Place on Earth", which topped the single charts, not only in the U.S., but also in the UK and in several other countries (the dance mix of the song also topped the dance chart). The radio-ready song was further propelled by a video, directed by Academy Award-winning American actress Diane Keaton. The second single from the album was "I Get Weak", which shot to #2 in the U.S. and #10 in the U.K. The song was written by Diane Warren. The third single from the album was "Circle in the Sand," another Top 10 hit in the U.S., the UK, and Germany. "World Without You" was another British hit, followed by 1988 low-charting ballad "Love Never Dies", making this her fifth single from the album in the UK. In the U.S., the fourth and last single, "I Feel Free," a cover of the Cream classic, failed to reach the Top 40. After the release of the Heaven on Earth Album Carlisle reached a great level of popularity and she even sold out the historical Wembley Stadium in London in 1988. Bette Davis (actress, born April 5, 1908, Lowell, MA; died October 6, 1989) Often referred to as "The First Lady of the American Screen," Bette Davis was most recognized by her succinct, deep-timbered, slightly grave, no-nonsense voice. After several years of fighting through three serious illnesses and "learning to walk again twice," she returned to work on October 30, 1984, starring with Helen Hayes and John Mills in Agatha Christie's "Murder With Mirrors," a television movie which was broadcast early the following year on the CBS Television Network. On the first morning of filming in the fog-drenched, soggy gardens of a "stately home" in Hertfordshire, England, she proclaimed it "one of the really wonderful days of my life." The actress, whose career spanned six decades, was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, where her father, Harlow Davis, had a law practice. After the divorce of her parents in 1916, she and her sister Barbara and their mother, Ruth Favor Davis, who had taken up photography as a profession, lived in various New England communities. While in her freshmen year of high school, Bette abandoned plans to become a dancer in favor of an acting career. After performing in school productions, summer stock and with semi-professional groups, she went to New York for an interview with Eva LeGallienne. The established actress found her lacking in seriousness and advised her to study in some other field. Undaunted, she enrolled--and later won a scholarship to--John Murray Anderson's acting school in New York. From there, she joined George Cukor's stock company playing at the Lyceum Theatre in Rochester and made her professional debut in Broadway. After a season with the Provincetown Players in New York City and two Ibsen roles with a touring repertory company, Davis bowed on Broadway in the domestic comedy Broken Dishes. The following year, while appearing in a short-lived Broadway play Solid South, she made a screen test for Universal Pictures and was signed. She arrived in Hollywood as a contract actress in December, 1930. She made her film debut in 1931 in Bad Sister. Her major achievements began, however, with the film version of Somerset Maugham's novel Of Human Bondage in 1934 and continued with her two Academy Award-winning roles as Best Actress--for Dangerous in 1935 and Jezebel in 1938. She also earned eight additional Oscar nominations, for Dark Victory, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Now Voyager, Mr. Skeffington, All About Eve, The Star, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? She was also named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics for her role as Margo Channing in All About Eve, establishing the much imitated line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." She developed a reputation for cajoling and even badgering Warner Brothers into buying stories she believed in, such as Jezebel, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Now Voyager, and Dark Victory. "You know it took me three years to get Mr. Warner (Jack L. Warner) to make Dark Victory," she recalled in 1984. "He said, 'Who wants to see a story about a girl who dies?' But he saw it was a great part and finally let me do it. I never thought it was sad. It was very hopeful, and I loved doing it." "I miss motion picture executives like Jack Warner, Louis B. Mayer and Darryl Zanuck," she added. "They were gamblers. They gave us all a chance. They gave me a career." The actress's career had its "bumpy nights"--and days--but its highlights have outshone them. She sailed smoothly into the age of television, winning an Emmy Award for her performance in the drama Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter. Other television films in which she starred are While Mama, The Disappearance of Aimee, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, Family Reunion, and Right of Way.

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