Year retrospective · 1980s

1987

1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1987th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 987th year of the 2nd millennium, the 87th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1980s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1980s

Timeline

Defining events of 1987

  1. 1987 The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.

    1987 secret treaty between Israel and Jordan on future Arab-Israeli peace talks

    The London Agreement between King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres was signed during a secret meeting held at the residence of Lord Mishcon in London on April 11, 1987. Also present in the meeting were Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid al-Rifai and Director General of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, Yossi Beilin.

  2. 1987 The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.

    Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka (1976–2009)

    The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government.

  3. 1987 The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.

    U.S. federal executive department

    The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is an executive department of the United States federal government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the United States attorney general, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet.

  4. 1987 Garuda Indonesia Flight 032 crashes at Medan Airport, killing 23.

    1987 aviation accident

    Garuda Indonesia Flight 035 was a domestic Garuda Indonesia flight that struck a pylon and crashed on approach to Medan-Polonia Airport on 4 April 1987. Out of the 45 passengers and crew on board, 23 were killed in the accident.

  5. 1987 Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes after takeoff in Detroit, Michigan, killing 154 of the 155 on board, plus two people on the ground.

    1987 aviation accident in Michigan

    On August 16, 1987, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport at about 20:46 EDT. All six crew members and 148 of the 149 passengers, as well as two people on the ground, were killed. The sole survivor was a four-year-old girl named Cecelia Cichan, who sustained serious injuries.

  6. 1987 Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.

    1987 spree shooting in England

    The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, which occurred on 19 August 1987 when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot and killed sixteen people, including his mother and an unarmed police officer, before killing himself. No motive for the killings was established.

  7. 1987 Odaeyang mass suicide: Thirty-three individuals linked to a religious cult are found dead in the attic of a cafeteria in Yongin, South Korea. Investigators attribute their deaths to a murder-suicide pact.
  8. 1987 Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.
  9. 1987 The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to give equal time to opposing views.
  10. 1987 Cold War: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.

Arrivals

Born in 1987

Vitorino Antunes 1987– Portuguese footballer
Ding Junhui 1987– Chinese snooker player (born 1987)
Gianluca Musacci 1987– Italian footballer
Oliver Turvey 1987– British race driver
Ahmed Adel Abdel Moneam 1987– Egyptian footballer (born 1987)
Hayley Westenra 1987– New Zealand singer (born 1987)
Joss Stone 1987– English singer, songwriter, and actress (born 1987)
Lights 1987– Canadian musician (born 1987)
Luiz Adriano 1987– Brazilian footballer (born 1987)
Brooklyn Decker 1987– American model and actress (born 1987)
Shawn Gore 1987– Canadian gridiron football player (born 1987)
Brendon Urie 1987– American singer and musician (born 1987)

Farewells

Died in 1987

Henri Cochet 20th-century French tennis player
Cecil Harmsworth King British publisher
Buddy Rich American jazz drummer and bandleader (1917–1987)
Gustav Bergmann Austrian-born American philosopher (1906–1987)
Erika Nõva Estonian architect
Shankar Indian film music composer duo
John Silkin British left-wing Labour politician and solicitor (1923-1987)
Tom Sestak American football player (1936–1987)
Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas Greek poet, lawyer and politician
Gary Chester American studio drummer, author, and teacher
Rudolf Hess German Nazi politician (1894–1987)
Shaike Ophir Israeli actor (1928–1987)

On the charts

Culture of 1987

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