1989

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.
1987–1993	UK [television]	French and Saunders, a comic sketch series starring comedians Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, is shown on British television.
1988–1994	USA [ecology]	The amount of chlorofluorocarbons released into the air in the USA is reduced by 52%.
1989	Japan, England [fiction]	The Japanese-born English writer Kazuo Ishiguro publishes his novel Remains of the Day, which wins the Booker Prize.
1989	USA [computing]	The US computing innovator Jaron Lanier makes the experience of virtual reality possible with his design of a headset and special gloves, which will allow a user to experience and manipulate a computer generated world.
1989	USA [statistics and demography]	There are over 6 million immigrants to the USA in the period 1980–9, coming mainly from Asia and the Americas. This compares with over 4 million in the period 1970–79.
1989	UK [plays]	The play Shadowlands, by the English writer William Nicholson, is first performed, at the Queen's Theatre in London, England. It is based on the life of the English writer C S Lewis.
1989	UK [popular culture]	Sales of compact discs overtake vinyl LPs for the first time in Britain.
1989	UK [consumer products]	Only 30% of albums sold in Britain are now available in the vinyl LP format.
6 January 1989	USSR [political events]	The USSR announces the mass rehabilitation of thousands of citizens who were victims of Stalin's purges in the 1930s–50s.
7 January 1989	Japan [political events]	On the death of Emperor Hirohito of Japan after a 62-year reign, he is succeeded by his son, Crown Prince Akihito.
7 January 1989	Japan [births and deaths]	Hirohito, emperor of Japan 1927–89, dies in Tokyo, Japan (87).
11 January 1989	world [ecology]	A declaration outlawing the use of poison gas and toxic and bacteriological weapons is agreed by 149 countries.
11 January 1989	Hungary [legislation]	The Hungarian parliament passes a law allowing the formation of political parties.
23 January 1989	Spain [births and deaths]	Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter who also designed furniture, jewellery, and stage and film sets, dies in Figueras, Spain (84).
5 February 1989	UK [communications]	Satellite television is broadcast direct to homes in Britain via satellite dish decoders. Four Sky TV channels are available, featuring news, film, sport, and a general channel.
14 February 1989	Iran [political events]	Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issues a fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie, calling for his death for blasphemy against Islam in his book The Satanic Verses. Rushdie goes into hiding.
15 April 1989	UK [football]	Ninety-six Liverpool fans die in a crush during the Football Association (FA) Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, Sheffield, England.
25 April 1989	UK [health and medicine]	The British Parliament reduces the legal abortion period from 28 to 24 weeks.
17 May 1989	Poland [Catholicism]	The Roman Catholic Church in Poland is given a status unparalleled in post-war Eastern Europe, with the restoration of property confiscated in the 1950s and the right to run schools.
3 June 1989	Iran [births and deaths]	Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shiite Muslim Ayatollah and organizer of the 1979 revolution that made him political and religious leader of Iran for life, dies in Tehran, Iran (89).
12 June 1989	USSR, West Germany [treaties]	Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and West German chancellor Helmut Kohl sign the ‘Bonn Document’, affirming the right of European states to determine their own political systems.
23 June 1989	Angola [political events]	President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and Jonas Savimbi, leader of the UNITA rebels, sign a declaration ending the 14-year civil war in Angola.
July 1989	USA [aircraft]	The US Air Force's Stealth Bomber (B-2) makes its first flight. Its profile, and the material used in its construction, are intended to reduce radar reflection.
11 July 1989	England [births and deaths]	Laurence Olivier, English stage and film actor, director, and producer, dies near London, England (82).
10 September 1989	Hungary [political events]	Hungary begins to allow East Germans within its frontiers to cross freely to the West.
12 September 1989	Poland [political events]	A Solidarity-dominated cabinet is formed in Poland under Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first noncommunist government in Eastern Europe since 1948.
17 October 1989	USA [natural disasters]	An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale hits San Francisco, California, killing at least 273 people, many of whom die when the upper level of the Nimitz Highway collapses. It is North America's most destructive earthquake since 1906, causing at least $6 billion in property damage.
6 November - 7 November 1989	Southeast Asia [political events]	Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) join Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea in forming the Council for Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation.
9 November 1989	East Germany [political events]	East Germany announces the opening of its border with West Germany as unrest continues and refugees continue to reach the West through the neighbouring countries. The authorities begin demolishing sections of the Berlin Wall the following day.
21 November 1989	UK [television]	The proceedings of the House of Commons are broadcast live on television in Britain for the first time, beginning with the debate on the Queen's Speech.
28 November 1989	Czechoslovakia [political events]	The Czechoslovak prime minister, Ladislav Adamec, formally renounces the communist monopoly on power.
1 December 1989	Vatican [Catholicism]	Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the first leader of the USSR to visit the Vatican. He and Pope John Paul II agree to re-establish diplomatic relations between their states.
2 December 1989	USA, USSR [diplomacy]	The US president George Bush and the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev formally declare the Cold War to be at an end.
10 December 1989	Czechoslovakia [law and government]	A majority noncommunist coalition government takes power in Czechoslovakia, led by Marian Calfa.
19 December 1989	Panama [political events]	US troops invade Panama to overthrow the regime of General Manuel Noriega.
22 December 1989	Romania [political events]	The Romanian army joins forces with antigovernment demonstrators in Romania and overthrows President Nicolae Ceausescu.
22 December 1989	Ireland, France [births and deaths]	Samuel Beckett, Irish writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, dies in Paris, France (83).
25 December 1989	Romania [births and deaths]	Nicolae Ceausescu, president of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1967–89, is captured (together with Elena Ceausescu), given a summary trial, and executed by the army near Bucharest, Romania (71).
29 December 1989	Czechoslovakia [elections]	The former dissident Václav Havel attends a thanksgiving mass in St Vitus' Cathedral, Prague, after his inauguration as the first noncommunist president of Czechoslovakia for 41 years.