The Yorkshire Ripper was brought to justice for the death of 13 women and the Pope was shot four times while he was in the Vatican.

MTV went on the air. The first song to be played was Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star.

Torvill and Dean won the European ice dancing title and Liverpool FC won the European cup 1-0 against Real Madrid.

In the year following his murder, John Lennon continued to reign over the UK charts, holding three of the top four places in the January Top Ten.

Bob Marley died of cancer aged only 36.