| 1983–1989 | UK [television] | The comedy Blackadder is shown on British television.Written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, it consists of four main series set in different historical periods – the Middle Ages, the Elizabethan Age, the Regency Period, and the First World War – and stars Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder. |
| 1984–1994 | UK [television] | Spitting Image, a programme satirizing contemporary politics using puppets created by Peter Fluck and Roger Law, is shown on British television. |
| 1986 | USA [technology] | The first laptop computer is introduced in the USA. |
| 1986 | Germany, Switzerland [technology] | German physicist Johannes Bednorz and Swiss physicist Karl Alex Müller announce the discovery of a superconducting ceramic material in which superconductivity occurs at a much higher temperature (30 K) than hitherto known, increasing the potential for use of superconductivity for more energy-efficient motors and computers. They receive the Nobel Prize for Physics – in record time – for their discovery. |
| 1986 | world [toys and games] | Nintendo video games, including Super Mario Brothers, are launched and quickly gain worldwide popularity. Sophisticated programming and graphics ensure their success and by 1990 sales exceed $3 billion. |
| 1986 | Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, West Germany, India, Libya, Senegal, Spain, UK [women's rights] | Percentages of homicides committed by women: Australia, 13.5%; Austria, 16%; Canada, 10.6%; China, 9.4%; France 15.6%; West Germany, 11%; India, 2%; Libya, 7.6%; Senegal, 27.3%; Spain, 11.3%; UK, 10%. |
| 1986 | USA [statistics and demography] | For the first time, the number of women in the USA holding professional jobs is greater than that of men, by 29,000. |
| 1986 | USA [statistics and demography] | The US Census Bureau reports 2,220,000 unwed couples. |
| 1986 | USA [agriculture] | The US Department of Agriculture permits the Biological Corporation of Omaha to market a virus produced by genetic engineering; it is the first living genetically altered organism to be sold. The virus is used against a form of swine herpes. |
| 1986 | Vatican, USA [Catholicism] | The Vatican declares Father Charles Curran of the USA unfit to teach Catholic theology because of his writings on divorce, contraception, abortion, and homosexuality. |
| 1986 | England [fiction] | The English writer Kingsley Amis publishes his novel The Old Devils, which wins the Booker Prize. |
| 1986 | Sweden [health and medicine] | The Swedish company Pharmacia Les Therapeutics AB develops Nicoret, a nicotine chewing gum to help people give up smoking. |
| 1986 | Japan [information technology] | The Japanese company Fuji launches the disposable camera, designed so that the whole unit is handed over for processing. |
| 1986 | Japan [music] | The first digital audio tape (DAT) recorders are demonstrated in Japan. |
| 1986 | USA [physics] | Scientists use 10 laser beams, which deliver a total power of 100 trillion watts during one-billionth of a second, to convert a small part of the hydrogen nuclei contained in a glass sphere to helium at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California; it is the first fusion reaction induced by a laser. |
| January 1986 | USA [space exploration] | The US space probe Voyager 2 passes within 81,000 km/50,600 mi of Uranus; photographs taken by the probe reveal ten unknown satellites and two new rings. |
| 1 January 1986 | Europe [political events] | Spain and Portugal become the 11th and 12th members of the European Community. |
| 28 January 1986 | USA [space exploration] | The US space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take-off, killing the crew of seven and setting the US space programme back years. |
| 19 February 1986 | USSR [space exploration] | The USSR launches the core unit of the Mir 1 space station; it is intended to be permanently occupied. |
| 28 February 1986 | Sweden [law and government] | Olof Palme, Swedish prime minister 1969–76 and 1982–86, is assassinated by a gunman in a Stockholm street, Sweden (59). |
| 2 March 1986 | Australia [political events] | Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signs the Australia Bill in Canberra, severing Australia's last constitutional ties with Britain. |
| 12 March 1986 | Spain [political events] | Spain votes in a referendum to remain in NATO, but for its military forces to remain separate from the NATO command structure. |
| 16 March 1986 | France [elections] | The opposition parties win a narrow majority in the French general election, ending five years of Socialist rule. On 20 March, Jacques Chirac, the Gaullist leader, is appointed prime minister. |
| 15 April 1986 | Libya [political events] | Bombers from US warships and bases in Britain attack targets in Libya: 100 people are killed, and one aeroplane is shot down. |
| 26 April 1986 | USSR [ecology] | A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine explodes, releasing radioactive material into the surrounding area and causing a radioactive cloud to cross Europe. This is the world's worst nuclear accident. |
| 9 May 1986 | Nepal [births and deaths] | Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa who, with Edmund Hillary, was the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, dies in Darjeeling, India (72). |
| 25 May 1986 | USA [social services] | To draw attention to the plight of the homeless, approximately 6 million people form a human chain – Hands Across America – most of the way from New York to California. |
| 1 June 1986 | USA [television] | The US Senate allows its proceedings to be televised but discontinues in July. |
| 4 July 1986 | USA [other structures] | The Statue of Liberty in New York City is reopened by US president Ronald Reagan in the presence of President François Mitterrand of France, following refurbishment in celebration of its 100th birthday. |
| 5 July - 20 July 1986 | USSR, USA [sports] | The first Goodwill Games are held in Moscow, USSR, conceived by US entrepreneur Ted Turner to promote goodwill between the USA and USSR following the boycotts of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. Over 3,000 athletes from 79 countries compete in 18 different sports. |
| 23 July 1986 | UK [political events] | Prince Andrew, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, marries Sarah Ferguson, in London, England. |
| 29 December 1986 | UK [births and deaths] | Harold Macmillan, British politician, Conservative prime minister 1957–63, dies in Birch Grove, Sussex, England (92). |
