1989

1989

MCMLXXXIX
 * FA Cup Winners: Liverpool FC (beat Everton 3-2)


 * Christmas Number One: Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas?
 * Eurovision Song Contest: Lausanne, 06 May 1989
 * UK Eurovision Entry: Live Report - Why Do I Always Get It Wrong (position 2nd)
 * Contest Winner: Riva - Rock Me (Yugoslavia, Croatian)


 * Blue Peter Team: Caron Keating, Yvette Fielding, Mark Curry (until 26 June), John Leslie (from 20 April -  first Scottish presenter).
 * Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy (final episode 06 Dec.)
 * Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ: Simon Mayo
 * Big Christmas Day Film On BBC1: Crocodile Dundee, Clockwise. (BBC Two - Babette's Feast)

Main events

 * Hillsborough Stadium disaster (15 April);  Margaret Thatcher completes ten years as Prime Minister but Labour gains popularity and votes in the European Elections (15 June); unemployment is below 2,000,000 for the first time since 1980, Arsenal win the EFL in the last minute of the last game (26 May), Princess Anne & Mark Phillips separate; the Church of England votes to allow ordination of women; The Berlin Wall falls and is demolished (9 Nov.); Merry Hill Shopping Centre opens;  House of Commons is televised live for the first time.

TV
(channel and first broadcast date in brackets)

New shows

 * The Late Show (BBC2, 16 Jan.), Sunrise (Sky News, 06 Feb.1989), Challenge Anneka (ITV, 08 Sept.), Blackadder Goes Forth (BBC1, 28 Sept.), The Satellite Show (BBC1, 29 Sept.) Victoria Wood (ITV, 16 Nov.), Byker Grove (BBC1, 08 Nov.). (full list)

Shows ending

 * Doctor Who (06 Dec., until 2005), Breakfast Time (BBC1 29 Sept.), Ever Decreasing Circles (24 Dec.). (full list)

Other TV events

 * Sky Television begins broadcasting as the first satellite TV service in Britain (05 Feb.), Australian soap Home and Away begins on ITV (11 Feb.).

Music
UK chart debuts: R.E.M.


 * Biggest selling singles: Black Box - Ride On Time, Jive Bunny - Swing The Mood, The Bangles - Eternal Flame (full list)
 * Best selling independent single: A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Child
 * Biggest selling albums: Jason Donovan - Ten Good Reasons, Simply Red - A New Town, Phil Collins - ....But Seriously (full list)
 * Compilation albums: Now 13, The Premiere Collection: The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Marquee – Thirty Legendary Years, Now Dance '89.
 * Debut albums: Nirvana - Bleach, Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi, Shakespears Sister - Sacred Heart, Texas - Southside, The Beautiful South -Welcome to the Beautiful South, Lisa Stansfield - Affection (full list)
 * Eponymous debuts - The Offspring, The Stone Roses, Tin Machine, Badlands
 * Alternative/independent: The Cure - Disintegration, New Order - Technique, Pixies - Doolittle, The Jesus & Mary Chain - Automatic, Erasure - Wild!

Films
UK releases
 * Gaming The Cube, Millennium, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Ghostbusters II, Back to the Future II, My Left Foot, Die Hard, Gorillas in the Mist

Births

 * Sam Ryder (25 June) Gareth Bale (16 July), Daniel Radcliffe (23 July), Avicii (08 September) Taylor Swift (13 December),

Deaths

 * Joan Cooper (01 July), Pete de Freitas (14 June),