1980

1980

MCMLXXX


 * FA Cup Winners: West Ham (beat Arsenal 1-0)
 * Christmas Number One: St Winifred's School Choir - There's No One Quite Like Grandma
 * Eurovision Song Contest: The Hague, 19 April
 * UK Eurovision Entry: Prima Donna - Love Enough For Two (3rd place)
 * Contest Winner: Johnny Logan - What's Another Year? (Eire)
 * Blue Peter Team: Simon Groom, Christopher Wenner (until 23 June) and Tina Heath (until 23 June), succeeded by Sarah Greene (from 19 May) and Peter Duncan (from 11 September).
 * Doctor Who: Tom Baker (S17 until 12 January, then S18 from 30 August)
 * Radio 1 Breakfast Show Jock: Dave Lee Travis
 * Big Christmas Day Film On BBC 1: Airport 75

Main events

 * Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, USA
 * Olympic Games in Moscow (boycotted by USA)
 * Iranian Embassy siege

New shows:
(channel and first broadcast date in brackets)
 * Yes Minister (BBC1, 25 February)

Shows ending

 * Magpie (ITV, 06 June)

Other TV events

 * Top of the Pops strike.
 * Match of the Day moved to Sunday afternoons.

Films

 * Zombies: Dawn of the Dead (UK release), Saturn 3,

Music

 * Best selling singles: The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me, Barbra Streisand - Woman in Love, Kelly Marie - Feels Like I'm in Love, ABBA - Super Trouper.
 * Best sellings albums: ABBA - Super Trouper, The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta, Rose Royce - Greatest Hits. 
 * Debut albums: John Foxx - Metamatic, The Pretenders - Pretenders, The Buggles - The Age of Plastic, The Sugarhill Gang - Sugarhill Gang, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (album), Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles,  UB40 - Signing Off, The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro, Visage - Visage,

Deaths

 * Ian Curtis, John Lennon
 * Peter Sellers, Alfred Hitchcock, Steve McQueen, Hattie Jacques, Yootha Joyce.