1988

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1988th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 988th year of the 2nd millennium, the 88th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1980s decade.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1950s  1960s  1970s  – 1980s –  1990s  2000s  2010s
Years:	1985 1986 1987 – 1988 – 1989 1990 1991

Events

Yellowstone fires of 1988 near Old Faithful

• February 13 – Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He calls his new home "Neverland".
• February 17 – A 12-year old Mötley Crüe fan in Florida is badly burned while trying to imitate a stunt in the band's "Live Wire" music video. The boy suffered burns over ten percent of his body. Mötley Crüe said the band's stunts should not be tried at home.
• March 12 – Record producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.
• April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono becomes Mayor of Palm Springs, California
• May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep".
• June 14 – A small wildfire starts in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. It joins other fires. Eventually, over 750,000 acres (3,000 km²) of Yellowstone burns before firefighters gain control in late September.
• July 1 – Quartetto Cetra's last concert
• August 20 – The Iran–Iraq War ends
• September 16 – rapper Eazy-E releases his first album Eazy-Duz-It
• November 1 – Bad Religion releases Suffer
• Hurricane Gilbert strikes the Caribbean, Mexico and south Texas
• November 24 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres
• December 7 – A powerful earthquake kills nearly 25,000 people in Soviet Armenia
• December 21 – A Pan-Am airplane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing more than 270 people
• Ankst music label founded
• Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra
• "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Births

Adele in 2016

• January 12 – Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
• February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
• February 29 – Lena Gercke, German model
• March 27 – Brenda Song, American actress and singer
• April 27 – Lizzo, American musician
• April 29 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian Professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks
• May 5 – Adele, British singer
• June 7 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
• July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish boxer
• July 16 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer
• August 25 – Alexandra Burke, British singer
• October 15 – Mesut Oezil, German footballer
• November 6 – Emma Stone, American actress
• November 8 - Chris McNally, Canadian actor
• November 19 – Patrick Kane, American professional ice hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks
• November 25 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010)
• December 14 – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress

Deaths

January

Chiang Ching-kuo

Georgy Malenkov

• January 3 – Rose Auslander, German poet (b. 1901)
• January 3 – Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905)
• January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (b. 1947)
• January 7 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
• January 11 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist (b. 1898)
• January 13 – Chiang Ching-kuo, 3rd President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)
• January 14 – Georgy Malenkov, 5th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1902)
• January 15 – Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
• January 16 – Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904)

February

Richard Feynman

• February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
• February 13 – John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (b. 1950)
• February 15 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

March

Kurt Georg Kiesinger

Andy Gibb

William McMahon

• March 7 – Divine, American actor and singer (b. 1945)
• March 9 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 3rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1904)
• March 10 – Andy Gibb, singer (b. 1958)
• March 10 – Phạm Hùng, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1912)
• March 31 – Sir William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)

April

Alan Paton

• April 12 – Alan Paton, South African author (b. 1903)
• April 25 - Valerie Solanas, American author (b. 1936)

May

Robert A. Heinlein

• May 8 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
• May 11 – Kim Philby, British agent and spy (b. 1912)
• May 14 – Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886)
• May 25 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

June

Giuseppe Saragat

• June 7 - Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927)
• June 11 – Giuseppe Saragat, 5th President of Italy (b. 1898)
• June 25 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b. 1962)

July

Judith Barsi

• July 25 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978)

August

Enzo Ferrari

Lazarus Salii

Jack Marshall

• August 2 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
• August 10 – Arnulfo Arias, President of Panama (b. 1901)
• August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
• August 17 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
• August 20 – Lazarus Salii, President of Palau (b. 1937)
• August 30 – Jack Marshall, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912)

September

Luis Walter Alvarez

• September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• September 5 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913)
• September 11 - Roger Hargreaves, English writer (b. 1934)
• September 30 – Trường Chinh, former President of Vietnam (b. 1907)

October

Franz Josef Strauß

• October 3 – Franz Josef Strauß, German politician (b. 1915)

November

Takeo Miki

• November 4 – Kleanthis Vikelidis, Greek footballer (b. 1916)
• November 14 – Takeo Miki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1907)
• November 27 – Angela Aames, American actress (b. 1956)
• November 27 – John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906)

December

Roy Orbison

• December 3 – Thawan Thamrongnawasawat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1901)
• December 4 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (b. 1899)
• December 6 – Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936)

Nobel Prizes

• Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, and Jack Steinberger for their research on neutrinos
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, and George H. Hitchings
• Nobel Prize in Literature won by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian writer
• Nobel Peace Prize won by The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces
• Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences won by Maurice Allais, French economist

Movies released

• The Accused, starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis
• Big, directed by Penny Marshall and starring Tom Hanks
• The Cat Came Back
• Cocktail starring Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, and Elisabeth Shue
• Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy
• Die Hard
• A Fish Called Wanda, nominated for three Academy Awards
• The Great Outdoors
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
• My Neighbor Totoro, an animated movie
• Rain Man, winning 4 Academy Awards
• Rambo III
• Red Scorpion
• Red Heat
• The Thin Blue Line
• Twins
• Working Girl
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, based on a novel by Gary K. Wolf
• Willow, directed by Ron Howard
• Young Guns, written by John Fusco

Hit songs

Bobby McFerrin in 2011

• "1-2-3" – Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine
• "Anything for You" – Gloria Estefan
• "Don't Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin
• "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" – Poison
• "Forever Young" – Rod Stewart
• "Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car)" – Billy Ocean
• "Got My Mind Set On You" – George Harrison
• "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" – Belinda Carlie
• "I Get Weak" – Belinda Carlisle
• "I Should Be So Lucky" – Kylie Minogue
• "Is this Love" – Whitesnake
• "Johnny B. Goode" – Judas Priest
• "Kokomo" – The Beach Boys
• "Lead Me On" – Amy Grant
• "Look Away" – Chicago
• "Man in the Mirror" – Michael Jackson
• "Mountain Song" – Jane's Addiction
• "Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley
• "New Sensation" – INXS
• "One More Try" – George Michael
• "The Promise" – When In Rome
• "Roll With It" – Steve Winwood
• "Saved By Love" – Amy Grant
• "Simply Irristable" – Robert Palmer
• "Sweet Child O' Mine" – Guns N' Roses
• "Tell It To My Heart" – Taylor Dayne
• "Toy Soldiers" – Martika
• "Theme from S-Express" – S-Express
• "When You Put Your Heart In It" – Kenny Rogers

New books

Clive Barker in 2007

• Alaska – James A. Michener
• The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
• Kiki: Reine de la Montparnasse – Lou Mollgaard
• Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler
• A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
• The Butcher – Alina Reyes
• Cabal – Clive Barker
• Candlelight Spells – Gerina Dunwich
• The Cardinal of the Kremlin – Tom Clancy
• Cat's Eye – Margaret Atwood
• The Coming of the King – Nikolai Tolstoy
• Curriculum (poems) – Grazyna Miller
• The Dark Green Tunnel – Allan W. Eckert
• The Fifth Child – Doris Lessing
• Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch – Alanna Nash
• The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker
• The Icarus Agenda – Robert Ludlum
• Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
• Matilda - Roald Dahl
• Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
• Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
• The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
• A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and his literary circle, 1895-1915 – Miranda Seymour
• The Sands of Time – Sidney Sheldon
• Scorpius – John Gardner
• The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
• Sourcery – Terry Pratchett
• Tapestry – Belva Plain
• Til We Meet Again – Judith Krantz
• The Toynbee Convector – Ray Bradbury
• Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett
• Zoya – Danielle Steel