Modern history
Another teaser from Gerry Perkins
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Guess the year
World news: the end of communism in eastern Europe gathers pace with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain and the Velvet Revolution in then-Czechoslovakia. Sky TV is launched by owner media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The Hillsborough disaster claims the lives of 97 people after a crush at Sheffield’s Hillsborough Stadium during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Pakistan rejoins the Commonwealth after leaving in 1972. Thousands of prodemocracy protestors are killed in the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. P.W. Botha resigns as South Africa leader, and is replaced by F.W. de Klerk. George Bush Snr is sworn in as US President. American serial killer Ted Bundy is executed. Nintendo releases the GameBoy console in the US. Iran places a $3m bounty on the head of novelist Salman Rushdie over his book The Satanic Verses. Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest, which remains the case until 2010. Former US Marine chief Oliver North is convicted on charges related to the Iran-Contra affair. English computer scientist and inventor of the common internet Tim BernersLee publishes his proposal for the world wide web. The Soviet-Afghan war ends. In the UK, the Conservative Party introduces its controversial poll tax, starting in Scotland. Luxury car model Lexus is launched. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill occurs off Alaska. The agreement for the formation of the Time-Warner media giant is made. The first Palestinian suicide attack on Israel kills 16 people on bus 405 between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. 51 people die in the Marchioness disaster in London, when a pleasure craft collides with a dredger vessel on the River Thames. Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez murder their wealthy parents in Beverly Hills. 80 Senior Times l January - February 2022 l www.seniortimes.ie
In Ireland: Fianna Fail enters coalition government with Dessie O’Malley’s Progressive Democrats. The former National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) campuses in Dublin and Limerick are upgraded to university status and renamed the University of Limerick and Dublin City University (DCU) respectively. The so-called Guildford Four, wrongly imprisoned for an IRA bomb in England are released. Irish soap opera Fair City starts broadcasting. The Sunday Business Post newspaper is launched. Irish Pride Bakery is launched. Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane is murdered by loyalist terrorists. The Christy Brown biopic My Left Foot is released. In sport: Broadcaster Eurosport is launched. Arsenal win their first English league title in 18 years after beating Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in their last game, with the decisive second goal coming in the final seconds of the season. Steffi Graf wins three of the four women’s tennis Grand Slam tournaments, a year after winning all four. Europe and the US tie the Ryder Cup in golf. Ian Woosnam wins the Irish Open. Cork beat Mayo in the All-Ireland Football final, while Tipperary beat Antrim in the hurling. France win the Five Nations Rugby Championship. Brazil win the Copa America. In entertainment: the big films of the year include Driving Miss Daisy, Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Back to the Future II. On television, Seinfeld launched and Home and Away was released outside of Australia. Answer on page 88
