1986

1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday in the Gregorian calendar, the 986th year of the 2nd millennium, the 86th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1980s decade.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1950s  1960s  1970s  – 1980s –  1990s  2000s  2010s
Years:	1983 1984 1985 – 1986 – 1987 1988 1989

1986 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1986 MCMLXXXVI
Ab urbe condita	2739
Armenian calendar	1435 ԹՎ ՌՆԼԵ
Assyrian calendar	6736
Bahá'í calendar	142–143
Balinese saka calendar	1907–1908
Bengali calendar	1393
Berber calendar	2936
British Regnal year	34 Eliz. 2 – 35 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2530
Burmese calendar	1348
Byzantine calendar	7494–7495
Chinese calendar	乙丑年 (Wood Ox) 4682 or 4622     — to — 丙寅年 (Fire Tiger) 4683 or 4623
Coptic calendar	1702–1703
Discordian calendar	3152
Ethiopian calendar	1978–1979
Hebrew calendar	5746–5747
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2042–2043
- Shaka Samvat	1907–1908
- Kali Yuga	5086–5087
Holocene calendar	11986
Igbo calendar	986–987
Iranian calendar	1364–1365
Islamic calendar	1406–1407
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 61 (昭和６１年)
Javanese calendar	1918–1919
Juche calendar	75
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4319
Minguo calendar	ROC 75 民國75年
Nanakshahi calendar	518
Thai solar calendar	2529
Tibetan calendar	阴木牛年 (female Wood-Ox) 2112 or 1731 or 959     — to — 阳火虎年 (male Fire-Tiger) 2113 or 1732 or 960
Unix time	504921600 – 536457599

Births

• January 5 – Sana Mir, Pakistani cricketer
• January 24 – Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
• January 24 – Ricky Ullman, Israeli-born American actor
• February 1 – Johan Vonlanthen, Swiss footballer
• February 19 – Maria Mena, Norwegian singer
• February 21 – Charlotte Church, Welsh soprano
• March 1 – Jonathan Spector, American footballer
• March 9 – Brittany Snow, American actress
• March 14 – Jamie Bell, English actor
• March 16 – Alexandra Daddario, American actress
• March 28 – Lady Gaga, American singer
• April 3 – Amanda Bynes, American actress and variety show host
• April 9 – Leighton Meester, American actress
• April 18 – Mateusz Rutkowski, Polish ski jumper (d. 2024)
• May 13 – Robert Pattinson, Actor, Singer & Model
• May 16 – Megan Fox, American actress
• June 3 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player
• June 10 – Joey Zimmerman, American actor
• June 11 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
• June 13 – Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses and entrepreneurs
• June 24 – Solange Knowles, American actress and singer
• June 25 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
• June 27 – Drake Bell, American actor
• July 2 – Lindsay Lohan, American actress
• July 4 – Shane Kippel, Canadian actor
• July 17 – Brando Eaton, American actor
• August 16 – Shawn Pyfrom, American actor
• September 9 – Michael J. Sox, German singer
• September 12 – Emmy Rossum, American actress and singer
• October 16 - Inna, Romanian singer and songwriter
• October 31 – Christie Hayes, Australian actress
• November 1 – Penn Badgley, American actor
• November 2 – Lara Sacher, Australian actress
• November 3 – Jasmine Trias, American singer
• November 5 – BoA, Korean singer
• November 17 – Nani, Portuguese footballer
• November 25 – Amber Hagerman, American murder victim (d. 1996)
• November 27 – Suresh Raina, Indian cricketer
• December 28 – Tom Huddlestone, English football player
• December 30 – Ellie Goulding, British singer

Deaths

January

Christopher Isherwood

Phil Lynott

Donna Reed

Space Shuttle Challenger

• January 1 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
• January 2 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
• January 4 – Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
• January 4 - Phil Lynott, Irish bass guitarist (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)
• January 8 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
• January 14 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
• January 24 – L. Ron Hubbard, American fiction writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
• January 24 – Gordon MacRae, American actor, singer (b. 1921)
• January 24 – Vincente Minnelli, American director (b. 1903)
• January 27 – Lilli Palmer, actress (b. 1914)
• January 28 – Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe.

February

Olof Palme

• February 11 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
• February 27 – Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
• February 28 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)

March

Georgia O'Keeffe

Ray Milland

James Cagney

• March 6 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
• March 10 – Ray Milland, Welsh actor (b. 1907)
• March 30 – James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)

April

Simone de Beauvoir

Broderick Crawford

• April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, French writer and intellectual (b. 1908)
• April 15 - Tim McIntire, American actor (b. 1944)
• April 24 – Wallis Simpson, wife of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1896)
• April 26 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)

May

Tenzing Norgay

• May 9 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountain guide (b. 1914)

June

• June 14 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)

August

Celâl Bayar

Urho Kekkonen

• August 22 – Celâl Bayar, 3rd President of Turkey (b. 1883)
• August 26 – Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
• August 31 – Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)

September

• September 1 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (b. 1923)
• September 24 – Cliff Burton, American bassist and songwriter from Metallica (b. 1962)

October

Samora Machel

• October 14 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
• October 19 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)

November

Cary Grant

• November 2 – Paul Frees, American actor, comedian (b. 1920)
• November 8 – Vyacheslav Molotov, Soviet politician (b. 1890)
• November 21 – Jerry Colonna, American comedian (b. 1904)
• November 22 – Scatman Crothers, American actor, musician (b. 1910)
• November 29 – Cary Grant, English actor (b. 1904)

December

Desi Arnaz

Harold Macmillan

• December 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, musician and television producer (b. 1917)
• December 26 – Elsa Lanchester, British-American actress (b. 1902)
• December 28 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (b. 1932)
• December 29 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the UK (b. 1894)

Events

• January 1 – Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
• January 1 – Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
• January 9 – After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
• January 12 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
• January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• January 20 – The first federal Martin Luther King Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
• January 24 – Voyager 2 space probe makes first encounter with Uranus
• January 28 – Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board.
• January 29 – Yoweri Kaguta Museveni became President of the Republic of Uganda after leading a successful five-year liberation struggle.
• February 25 – Corazon Aquino becomes President of the Philippines.
• February 28 – Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated.
• April 20 - NBA player Michael Jordan scores a playoff record 63 points in a game against the Boston Celtics.
• April 21 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
• April 26 – An explosion occurs at a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl.
• August 21 – A leak of volcanic gases at Lake Nyos in Cameroon kills many people nearby as they sleep.
• September 24 — Metallica bassist Cliff Burton is killed in a bus crash
• October 11 – Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan hold a meeting in Iceland.
• October 19 – Mozambique's President Samora Machel dies in a plane crash.
• Bubble Bobble is created, a video game popular world-wide

Movies released

• Little Shop of Horrors
• Top Gun
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Stand by Me
• Back to School
• Aliens
• The Delta Force
• Three Amigos!
• Cobra
• Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation
• Club Paradise
• Ruthless People
• The Hitcher
• Heartbreak Ridge
• The Great Mouse Detective
• My Little Pony: The Movie
• Maximum Overdrive
• 16 Candles
• An American Tail

Hit songs

• "Stimulation – Wa Wa Nee
• "You're The Voice" – John Farnham #1
• "No Lies" – Noiseworks
• "Funkytown" – Psudeo Echo #1
• "Throw Your Arms Around Me" – Hunters + Collectors
• "(There's Gonna Be) A Showdown – The Johnnys
• "Walk Like an Egyptian" – The Bangles
• "Livin' on a Prayer" – Bon Jovi
• "The Final Countdown" – Europe
• "French Kissin' In The USA" – Debbie Harry
• "True Colors" – Cyndi Lauper
• "Hip To Be Square" – Huey Lewis and the News
• "Real Wild Child (Wild One)" – Iggy Pop
• "Hymn To Her" – The Pretenders
• "War" – Bruce Springsteen
• "Breakout" – Swing Out Sister
• "I Want To Wake Up With You" – Boris Gardiner
• "Two Of Hearts" – Stacey Q
• "Whole Of The Moon" – Waterboys
• "Take My Breath Away" – Berlin
• "Glory Of Love" – Peter Cetera
• "The Next Time I Fall" – Peter Cetera
• "You Give Love A Bad Name" – Bon Jovi
• "Move Away" – Culture Club
• "That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick
• "Hey, You!" – Divine
• "Little Baby" – Divine
• "Sara" – Starship
• "Parce que je ne t'aime plus" – Dalida
• "Le sixième jour" – Dalida
• "Addicted To Love" – Robert Palmer
• "Stuck With You" – Huey Lewis & the News
• "How Will I Know" – Whitney Houston
• "When I Think of You" – Janet Jackson
• "West End Girls" – Pet Shop Boys
• "Live to Tell" – Madonna
• "Holding Back The Years" – Simply Red
• "Stay For Awhile" – Amy Grant
• "Papa Don't Preach" – Madonna
• "Rock Me Amadeus" – Falco
• "On My Own" – Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
• "Notorious" – Duran Duran
• "Sometimes" – Erasure
• "Kyrie" – Mr. Mister
• "That Was Then, This Is Now" – The Monkees
• "Kiss" – Prince
• "The Greatest Love of All" – Whitney Houston
• "Manic Monday" – The Bangles
• "Locked In" – Judas Priest
• "Turbo Lover" – Judas Priest
• "Love Walks In" – Van Halen
• "La Isla Bonita" – Madonna
• "Sledgehammer" – Peter Gabriel
• "Invisible Touch" – Genesis
• "Living In America" – James Brown
• "Lady In Red" – Chris de Burgh
• "Holding Out For A Hero" – Bonnie Tyler
• "My Hometown" – Bruce Springsteen
• "Venus" – Bananarama

New books

• Extinction – Thomas Bernhard
• The Bourne Supremacy – Robert Ludlum
• The Bridge – Iain Banks
• Cadillac Desert – Marc Reisner
• The Fence Post Chronicles – W.P. Kinsella
• The Fisher King – Anthony Powell
• Ghost – Piers Anthony
• The Golden Cup – Belva Plain
• Hollywood Husbands – Jackie Collins
• I'll Take Manhattan – Judith Krantz
• In the Hollow of His Hand – James Purdy
• It – Stephen King
• Kara Kush – Idries Shah
• Kate Vaiden – Reynolds Price
• Last of the Breed – Louis L'Amour
• Leo Africanus – Amin Maalouf
• The Light Fantastic – Terry Pratchett
• Love You Forever – Robert Munsch
• A Matter of Honour – Jeffrey Archer
• The Moronic Inferno and Other Visits to America – Martin Amis
• Nobody Lives For Ever – John Gardner
• The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis
• A Perfect Spy – John le Carré
• The Prince of Tides – Pat Conroy
• Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy
• Speaker for the Dead – Orson Scott Card
• Sportswriter – Richard Ford
• Tourist Season – Carl Hiaasen
• Wanderlust – Danielle Steel
• Whirlwind – James Clavell
• The Wizards and the Warriors – Hugh Cook