1986 Explained

1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). It was designated the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.

Events of 1986

January

• January 1 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.
• January 1 - Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
• January 1 - The Province of Flevoland is established in the Netherlands.
• January 9 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
• January 12 - STS-61-C: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz.

• January 19 - The first PC virus, Brain, starts to spread.
• January 20 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• January 20 - The first federal Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed.
• January 24 - The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.
• January 26 - Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots 46-10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• January 28 - STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing the crew of 7 astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe (see Space Shuttle Challenger disaster).
• January 29 - Yoweri Museveni becomes President of Uganda after leading a successful 5-year liberation struggle.

February

• February 2 - One of Australia's worst crimes, the Anita Cobby murder, occurs.
• February 3 - Pixar Animation Studios is opened.
• February 7 - President Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.
• February 9 - Comet Halley reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th Century.
• February 11 - Human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky is released by the Soviet Union and leaves the country.
• February 15 - The Beechcraft Starship makes its maiden flight.
• February 16 - The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
• February 16 - The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.
• February 17 - The Single European Act is signed.
• February 19 - The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
• February 19 - After waiting 37 years, the United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
• February 25 - People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her Vice President.
• February 25 - Egyptian military police, protesting against bad salaries, enter 4 luxury hotels near the pyramids, set fire to them and loot them.
• February 26 - People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
• February 27 - The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
• February 28 - Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated on his way home from the cinema.

March

• March 3 - The first paper is published describing the Atomic force microscope, invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christophe Berger. http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v56/i9/p930_1
• March 4 - The Today national tabloid newspaper is launched in the United Kingdom, pioneering the use of computer photosetting and full-colour offset printing, at a time when British national newspapers still use Linotype machines and letterpress.
• March 8 - The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
• March 9 - United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all 7 astronauts are still inside.
• March 13 - Irish racemare Dawn Run wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham, England, becoming the first racehorse to complete the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup double.
• March 25 - The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.
• March 26 - An article in the New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.
• March 27 - A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing a police officer.
• March 31 - A fire devastates Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England.
• March 31 - A Mexicana Boeing 727 jetliner crashes at Maravatio, Mexico, killing 173. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/Airline/AL%20M.htm

April

• April 2 - A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.
• April 4 - The Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. is founded.
• April 5 - 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
• April 13 - Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.
• April 14 - Hailstones weighing 2.2 lb (1 kg) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
• April 15 - Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region

• April 17 - British journalist John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) - 3 others are found dead; Revolutionary Cells (RZ) claims responsibility in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.
• April 17 - A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
• April 17 - The Hindawi Affair begins when an Irishwoman is found unknowingly carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.
• April 21 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, discovering only a bottle of moonshine.
• April 26 - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 56 are killed directly by the incident, many more die from cancer in later years, many thousands more are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, and vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus are rendered uninhabitable.
• April 27 - "Captain Midnight" interrupts the HBO satellite feed.
• April 29 - Roger Clemens sets the record for the most strikeouts in a 9-inning MLB game, striking out 20 batters.

May

• May 2 - The 1986 World Exposition opens in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• May 7 - The European Champion Clubs' Cup is won by Steaua Bucharest on penalties in a final against FC Barcelona.
• May 8 - Óscar Arias is inaugurated into his first term as President of Costa Rica.
• May 16 - The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
• May 24 - The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup, beating the Calgary Flames in 5 games.
• May 25 - Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
• The Bangladeshi double decked ferry Shamia capsizes in the Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing at least 600.
• May 26 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
• May 31 - The 1986 FIFA World Cup begins in Mexico.

June

• June 4 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
• June 8 - The Boston Celtics defeat the Houston Rockets in 6 games to win the NBA Championship.
• June 8 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
• June 9 - The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
• June 19 - American college basketball player Len Bias suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft.
• June 23 - Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software. http://www.nic.funet.fi/index/FUNET/history/internet/en/1986.html
• June 29 - Argentina defeats West Germany 3-2 to win the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

July

• July 1- CSX Transportation is established.
• July 5 - The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.
• July 5–20 - The Goodwill Games are held in Moscow.
• July 7 - Australian drug smugglers Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers executed in Malaysia.
• July 23 - In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
• July 27 - Greg LeMond wins the Tour de France.
• July 28 - Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanishes after a meeting in London.

August

• August 6 - A low-pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328mm of rain in a day on Sydney.
• August 6 - In Louisville, Kentucky, William J. Schroeder, the second artificial heart recipient, dies after 620 days.
• August 6 - The Craigavon Cowboys beat the Dublin Celts 6-0 in Shamrock Bowl I (Ireland's first American Football National Championship game).
• August 6 - Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliament and is succeeded by Janine Haines, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia.
• August 19 - Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.
• August 20 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
• August 21 - The Lake Nyos disaster occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.
• August 31 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
• August 31 - Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
• August 31 - The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It wanders the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo.

September

• September 1 - Establishment of JUST / Jordan University of Science and Technology in Jordan.
• September 4 - Eusko Alkartasuna, the Basque Social Democratic Party, is created in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
• September 5 - Pan Am Flight 73, with 358 people on board, is hijacked at Karachi International Airport by 4 Abu Nidal terrorists.
• September 6 - In Istanbul, 2 Abu Nidal terrorists kill 22 and wound 6 inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Sabbath services.
• September 7 - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.
• September 7 - Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet survives an assassination attempt by the FPMR; 5 of his bodyguards are killed.
• September 13 - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks the city of Kalamata in southern Greece, killing 20 people, injuring 80 and completely destroying 1/5 of the city.
• September 27 - Cliff Burton, bassist for Metallica from 1982-1986, dies on the Damage Inc. tour in Europe after being crushed by Metallica's tour bus.

October

• October 1 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater-Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
• October 3 - TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, officially opens at Chalk River Laboratories.
• October 9 - United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
• October 9 - News Corporation completes its acquisition of the Metromedia group of companies, thereby launching the Fox Broadcasting Company.
• October 10 - An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
• October 11 - Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
• October 12 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China.
• October 16 - The International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics.
• October 19 - Mozambican president Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa.
• October 22 - In New York City WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air were Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
• October 26 - Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
• October 27 - The International World Day of Prayer is held in Assisi, Italy.
• October 27 - World Series: The New York Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. This is the second world series title in the Mets franchise. It is also remembered for Game 6, when Bill Buckner lets an easy ground ball hit by Mookie Wilson roll through his legs, letting the Mets win and pull even with the Red Sox in the series.
• October 27 - The Big Bang in the London Stock Exchange abolishes fixed commission charges, paving the way for electronic trading.
• October 28 - The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbor.
• October 28 - In London, Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews, and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation by the trial judge that he should serve at least 25 years before being considered for parole.

November

• November 1 - Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1, 1987 following revelations of his involvement with corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
• November 3 - Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
• November 4 - Democrats regain control of the United States Senate for the first time in 6 years. In California, Chief Justice Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by voters from the Supreme Court of California for opposing capital punishment.
• November 6 Sumburgh disaster: A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport, killing 45 people (the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record).
• November 11 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
• November 12 - Australian singer John Farnham releases the album Whispering Jack, which becomes the highest selling album in Australia's history.
• November 18 - Greater Manchester Police announce that they are to search for the bodies of 2 missing children (who both vanished more than 20 years ago) after the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley confess to 2 more murders.
• November 21 - Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 22 - Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
• November 25 - Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 26 - Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces that as of December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will serve as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal (they became known as the Tower Commission). Reagan denies involvement in the scandal.

December

• December 7 - A 5.7 Richter scale earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.
• December 14 - Rutan Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world.
• December 19 - Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after years of internal exile.
• December 20 - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
• December 22 - British Liberal Party Member of Parliament David Penhaligon, 42, is killed in a car crash near Truro in Cornwall, England.
• December 23 - Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
• December 26 - After 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of longest-running non-news program on network television, NBC airs the final episode of daytime drama Search for Tomorrow.
• December 31 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.

Undated

• The National park passport stamps program begins.
• The Council on Competitiveness was founded
• Average per capita income in Japan exceeds that in the USA.

Fictional

• Computer/video games:

• (2002) - Set in 1986.

• Shenmue (1999) - Story begins in 1986.
• TV

• Kamen Rider Kiva (2008) - Half of the story set in 1986.

• Doctor Who (1966, 1985)- Two serials took place in 1986.
• Anime

• Umineko no Naku Koro ni (2007-) - Set in October, 1986

• Books

• Watchmen

Births

January–March

• January 1 - Alexa Ray Joel, American singer-songwriter
• January 1 - Lee Sungmin, Korean singer
• January 3 - Lloyd Polite, American singer
• January 5 - Deepika Padukone, Bollywood actress
• January 5 - Teppei Koike, Japanese singer and actor
• January 6 - Petter Northug, Norwegian cross-country skier
• January 6 - Alex Turner, British musician
• January 6 - Irina Sheik, Russian model
• January 15 - Jessy Schram, American actress
• January 17 - Chloe Rose Lattanzi, Australian actress and singer
• January 22 - Daniel Smith, American actor (d. 2006)
• January 24 - Mischa Barton, British-born American actress
• January 24 - Raviv Ullman, Israeli-born American actor
• January 26 - Gerald Green, American basketball player
• January 26 - Matt Heafy, American singer
• January 29 - Drew Tyler Bell, American actor
• January 31 - Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Belgian footballer
• February 1 - Lauren Conrad, American television personality
• February 5 - Claudia Cruz, Dominican model and beauty queen
• February 7 - Deanna Casaluce, Canadian actress
• February 8 - Charles Andrew Williams, American murderer
• February 12- Gary LeRoi Gray, American actor
• February 13 - Stephen Colletti, American television personality
• February 15 - Valeri Bojinov, Bulgarian footballer
• February 19 - Marta, Brazilian footballer
• February 19 - Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
• February 21 - Charlotte Church, Welsh soprano
• February 23 - Kazuya Kamenashi, Japanese singer and actor
• February 25 - Justin Berfield, American actor
• February 25 - Danny Saucedo, Swedish singer
• February 25 - James and Oliver Phelps British actors
• February 26 - Teresa Palmer, Australian actress and model
• March 3 - Stacie Orrico, American singer
• March 4 - Margo Harshman, American actress
• March 5 - Corey Brewer, American basketball player
• March 6 - Eli Marienthal, American actor
• March 9 - Brittany Snow, American actress
• March 12 - Danny Jones, British musician
• March 13 - Chiaki Kyan, Japanese gravure idol
• March 14 - Jamie Bell, British actor
• March 16 - Ken Doane, American wrestler
• March 16 - T. J. Jordan, American basketball player
• March 16 - Daisuke Takahashi, Japanese figure skater
• March 17 - Olesya Rulin, Russian-born actress
• March 23 - Steven Strait, American actor
• March 25 - Marco Belinelli, Italian basketball player
• March 25 - Megan Gibson, American softball player
• March 26 - Jonny Craig, Canadian singer and songwriter
• March 27 - Valerie "So Cal Val" Wyndham, American wrestling valet
• March 29 - Romina Oprandi, Italian tennis player
• March 30 - Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer

April–June

• April 3 - Amanda Bynes, American actress
• April 3 - Coleen Rooney, English model (and footballer's wife)
• April 4 - Eunhyuk, Korean singer, member of Super Junior
• April 8 - Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
• April 9 - Leighton Meester, American actress
• April 10 - Fernando Gago, Argentine footballer
• April 10 - Vincent Kompany, Belgian footballer
• April 13 - Andrea Edwards, American actress
• April 16 - Neil Haskell, Finalist of SYTYCD Season 3
• April 18 - Maurice Edu, American footballer
• April 19 - Candace Parker, American basketball player
• April 22 - Amber Heard, American actress
• April 27 - Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
• April 28 - Keri Sable, American pornographic actress
• May 7 - Amy Kwolek, English actress
• May 12 - Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress
• May 13 - Robert Pattinson, British actor
• May 13 - Alexander Rybak, Norwegian singer
• May 15 - Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
• May 16 - Megan Fox, American actress
• May 17 - Tahj Mowry, American actor
• May 19 - Eric Lloyd, American actor
• May 20 - Dexter Blackstock, English footballer
• May 21 - Myra, American singer
• May 23 - Nico Colaluca, American footballer
• May 29 - Jaslene Gonzalez, Puerto Rican/American fashion model
• May 31 - Sopho Khalvashi, Georgian musical artist
• May 31 - Robert Gesink, Dutch cyclist
• June 1 - Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008
• June 3 - Brenden Richard Jefferson, American actor
• June 3 - Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
• June 3 - Tomáš Verner, Czech Republic ice skater
• June 11 - Shia LaBeouf, American actor
• June 13 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses
• June 13 - Kat Dennings, American actress
• June 14 - Haley Hudson, American actress
• June 18 - Richard Gasquet, French tennis player
• June 19 - Marvin Williams, American basketball player
• June 25 - Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
• June 25 - Lee Ho-Suk, South Korean short-track skater
• June 26 - Philip Hughes, American baseball player
• June 27 - Drake Bell, American actor and singer
• June 27 - LaShawn Merritt, American sprinter
• June 28 - Kellie Pickler, American singer
• June 28 - Shadia Simmons, Canadian actress
• June 29 - Austin Drage, British actor and singer
• June 30 - Victoria Crawford, American wrestler and model

July–September

• July 1 - Casey Reinhardt, American model
• July 2 - Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer
• July 2 - Choi Dae Hyun, Korean model
• July 6 - Caroline Welz, Tallest woman in Germany and model
• July 8 - Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
• July 9 - Kiely Williams, American actress and singer
• July 12 - JP Pietersen, South African rugby player
• July 12 - Krystal Forscutt Australian reality TV star
• July 17 - Dana, Korean singer/dancer/actress TSZX
• July 25 - Givanildo Vieira de Souza, Brazilian footballer
• July 28 - Alexandra Chando, American actress
• July 31 - Evgeni Malkin, Russian hockey player
• August 2 - Caitlin Murphy, Australian model and actress
• August 3 - Charlotte Casiraghi, heir to the Monaco throne
• August 6 - Bryan Young, Canadian ice hockey player
• August 11 - Kaori Fukuhara, Seiyū
• August 14 - Nigel Boogaard, Australian Footballer
• August 16 - Shawn Pyfrom, American actor
• August 17 - Tobias Schönenberg, German actor and photo model
• August 20 - Robert Clark, Canadian actor
• August 21 - Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
• August 22 - Jack Perkins, Australian racing driver
• August 23 - Neil Cicierega, American musician and animator
• August 26 - Cassie Ventura, American pop and R&B singer
• August 27 - Mario, R&B singer and actor
• August 28 - Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier/hostage
• August 29 - Lauren Collins, Canadian actress
• August 29 - Samuell Benta, British actor
• August 30 - Ryan Ross, guitarist (Panic at the Disco)
• August 31 - Feng Tianwei, Singaporean Olympic table tennis player
• September 1 - Davida Williams, American singer and actress
• September 3 - Shaun White, American professional snowboarder
• September 6 - Raven Riley, American porn star
• September 12 - Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer
• September 14 - Ai Takahashi, Japanese singer
• September 16 - Kyla Pratt, American actress
• September 18 - Keeley Hazell, British model
• September 19 - Peter Vack, American voice actor
• September 19 - Mandy Musgrave, American actress
• September 21 - Faris Rotter, British vocalist (The Horrors)
• September 23 - Kaylee DeFer, American actress
• September 26 - Ashley Leggat, Canadian actress
• September 27 - Natasha Thomas, Danish singer and songwriter
• September 28 - Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer
• September 29 - Lisa Foiles, American actress and singer

October–December

• October 1 - Jurnee Smollett, American actress
• October 2 - Camilla Belle, American actress
• October 6 - Tereza Kerndlová, Czech singer
• October 6 - Olivia Thirlby, American actress
• October 9 - Laure Manaudou, French swimmer
• October 10 - Nathan Jawai, Australian basketball player
• October 12 - Marcus T. Paulk, American actor
• October 14 - Skyler Shaye, American actress
• October 15 - Lee Donghae, Korean singer, member of Super Junior
• October 16 - Craig Pickering, British sprinter
• October 21 - Natalee Holloway,U.S teen,Disappeared in Aruba (d.2005)
• October 22 - Kyle Gallner, American actor
• October 22 - Kara Lang, Canadian footballer
• October 24 - Aubrey Graham, Canadian actor
• October 30 - Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper
• November 1 - Penn Badgley, American actor
• November 2 - Talan Torriero, American reality television star
• November 3 - Jasmine Trias, Filipino - American singer
• November 4 - Alexz Johnson, Canadian actress and singer
• November 5 - BoA, Korean singer
• November 5 - Kasper Schmeichel, Danish footballer
• November 10 - Josh Peck, American actor and director
• November 11 - François Trinh-Duc, French rugby player
• November 12 - Evan Yo, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
• November 15 - Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player
• November 17 - Karmichael Hunt, Australian NRL player
• November 18 - Nic Sampson, New Zealand actor
• November 19 - Veronica Scott, American Fashion Designer
• November 20 - Aaron Yan,Taiwanese Singer
• November 25 - Katie Cassidy, American singer and model
• November 26 - Antonella Barba, American singer
• December 1 - DeSean Jackson, American football player
• December 4 - Martell Webster, American basketball player
• December 8 - Amir Khan, British boxer
• December 11 - Lee Peltier, English footballer
• December 18 - Jery Sandoval, Colombian actress, model and singer
• December 24 - Riyo Mori, Japanese Miss Universe 2007 winner
• December 26 - Mew Azama, Japanese actress
• December 29 - Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and model
• December 29 - Katie Sheridan, British actress
• December 30 - Sierra Fellers, American professional skateboarder

Deaths

January–March

• January 1 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
• January 4 - Phil Lynott, lead singer and bassist of Thin Lizzy (b. 1949)
• January 7 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer (b. 1917)
• January 8 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
• January 10 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• January 14 - Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
• January 24 - L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
• January 24 - Gordon MacRae, American actor, singer (b. 1921)
• January 27 - Lilli Palmer, German actress (b. 1914)
• January 28 - Greg Jarvis, American astronaut (b. 1944)
• January 28 - Christa McAuliffe, American astronaut and teacher (b. 1948)
• January 28 - Ronald McNair, American astronaut (b. 1950)
• January 28 - Ellison Onizuka, American astronaut (b. 1946)
• January 28 - Judith Resnik, American astronaut (b. 1949)
• January 28 - Francis R. Scobee, American astronaut (b. 1939)
• January 28 - Michael J. Smith, American astronaut (b. 1945)
• February 1 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
• February 6 - Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
• February 11 - Frank Herbert, American author (b. 1920)
• February 11 - Evelio Javier, Filipino politician, lawyer, and civil servant (b. 1942)
• February 21 - Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
• February 21 - Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese supercentenarian, the oldest man ever (b. 1865?)
• February 24 - Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician and "Father of Medicare" in Canada (b. 1904)
• February 27 - Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
• February 28 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)
• February 28 - Thomas Williams, British politician (b. 1915)
• March 4 - Richard Manuel, Canadian musician (The Band) (b. 1943)
• March 4 - Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (b. 1936)
• March 6 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
• March 10 - Ray Milland, Welsh actor (b. 1907)
• March 23 - Moshe Feinstein, Orthodox Rabbi (b. 1895)
• March 30 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
• March 31 - O'Kelly Isley, American singer of The Isley Brothers (b. 1937)

April–June

• April 3 - Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
• April 7 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
• April 8 - Yukiko Okada, Japanese idol singer (b. 1967)
• April 14 - Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
• April 15 - Jean Genet, French writer (b. 1910)
• April 19 - Aileen Britton, Australian actress (b. 1916)
• April 22 - Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian of religions and writer (b. 1907)
• April 23 - Harold Arlen, 20th century American music composer (b. 1905)
• April 23 - Otto Preminger, Austrian-born film director (b. 1906)
• April 24 - Wallis Simpson, wife of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, later titled "Duke of Windsor" due to his abdication (b. 1896)
• April 26 - Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
• April 26 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
• May 1 - Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (b. 1905)
• May 2 - Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally car driver (b. 1956)
• May 3 - Robert Alda, American-born actor (b. 1914)
• May 9 - Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
• May 11 - Henry P. McIlhenny, American art collector, socialite, philanthropist and the chairman of the Philadelphia Art Museum (b. 1910)
• May 12 - Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
• May 15 - Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
• May 15 - Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
• May 19 - Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
• May 23 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
• May 25 - Chester Bowles, American politician (b. 1901)
• May 26 - Gian-Carlo Coppola, American film producer (b. 1963)
• May 31 - Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank), American artist (b. 1918)
• May 31 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• June 13 - Benny Goodman, American jazz musician (b. 1909)
• June 14 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
• June 16 - Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
• June 17 - Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
• June 18 - Frances Scott Fitzgerald, Daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre. (b. 1921)
• June 19 - Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963)
• June 19 - Coluche, stage name of Michel Colucci, French comedian and humorist (b. 1944)
• June 21 - Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer, musician, conductor and author (b. 1923)

July–September

• July 4 - Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
• July 6 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (b. 1908)
• July 8 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (b. 1900)
• July 8 - Skeeter Webb, baseball player (b. 1909)
• July 11 - Frances Griffiths, Cotingley Fairies girl (b. 1907)
• July 14 - Raymond Loewy, French-born industrial designer (b. 1893)
• July 15 - Billy Haughton, American harness driver and trainer (b. 1923)
• July 21 - Ernest Maas, American screenwriter (b. 1892)
• July 24 - Fritz Albert Lipmann, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
• July 25 - Vincente Minnelli, American film director (b. 1903)
• August 2 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (b. 1927)
• August 16 - Jaime Saenz, Bolivian poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1921)
• August 20 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright (b. 1923)
• August 21 - Thad Jones, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
• August 26 - Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
• August 31 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
• August 31 - Henry Moore, British sculptor (b. 1898)
• September 4 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b. 1911)
• September 7 - Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (b. 1914)
• September 25 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
• September 27 - Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (b. 1962)

October–December

• October 5 - James H. Wilkinson, English mathematician (b. 1919)
• October 7 - Wallace Wade, American football coach, University of Alabama, Duke University (b. 1892)
• October 14 - Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
• October 16 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
• October 19 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b.1933)
• October 22 - Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
• October 23 - Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
• October 25 - Forrest Tucker, American actor (F Troop) (b. 1919)
• October 26 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
• October 28 - Ian Marter, British actor and writer (b. 1944)
• October 31 - Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1896)
• November 2 - Paul Frees, American voice actor (b. 1920)
• November 6 - Elisabeth Grümmer, Alsatian soprano (b. 1911)
• November 8 - Artur London, Czech statesman (b. 1915)
• November 8 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (b. 1890)
• November 10 - Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (b. 1916)
• November 18 - Gia Carangi, supermodel (b. 1960)
• November 21 - Dar Robinson, American film stuntman (b. 1947)
• November 22 - Scatman Crothers, American actor, musician (b. 1910)
• November 22 - William Bradford Huie, American journalist, editor, publisher and author (b. 1910)
• November 29 - Cary Grant, British actor (b. 1904)
• December 2 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor (b. 1917)
• December 3 - Austin Hayes, Irish footballer (b. 1958)
• December 21 - Willy Coppens, Belgian pilot (b. 1892)
• December 22 - Ida Cook (aka Mary Burchell), British novelist and campaigner for Jewish refugees (b. 1904)
• December 29 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
• December 29 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)

Unknown dates

• Hilda Conkling, child poet (b. 1910)
• Iren Marik, classical Hungarian pianist (b. 1906)

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1986
• List of ship commissionings in 1986
• List of ship decommissionings in 1986
• List of shipwrecks in 1986

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
• Chemistry - Dudley R Herschbach, Yuan T Lee, John C Polanyi
• Physiology or Medicine - Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini
• Literature - Wole Soyinka
• Peace - Elie Wiesel
• Economics - James Buchanan Jr

Templeton Prize

• Rev. Dr. James McCord

See also

• 20th century