1983 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• Sports Record: The most points scored in an NBA game is 186 by the Detroit Pistons against the Denver Nuggets. The second most is 184 by the Denver Nuggets, in the same game on Dec 13, 1983.
• The Top Song was Every Breath You Take by The Police
• The Big Movies included Return of the Jedi, Terms of Endearment and Flashdance
• Price of Chevrolet Chevette in 1983: $7,287.00
  Bananas: 33 cents/pound
  32 oz Listerine: $2.49
• The World Population was ~ 4,640,000,000
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 71.0 years, Females: 78.1 years
• Jenga was introduced at the London Toy Fair in January 1983.
• Since 1983 the length of the meter is defined by the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
• And... Mr. Rogers Neighborhood aired a five episode arc about nuclear war titled Conflict in November 1983. The episodes have not aired in rerurns since.

Someone born in 1983 is a member of three different "generations" - Generation X, Generation Y and Millennials.

AS of 2017, of the top 20 most watched TV broadcasts in the United States, 19 were Super Bowls, and the other was the 1983 finale of television's M*A*S*H.

Naloxone (Narcon) has became a mainstay of hospital emergency rooms and medical wards. It can be injected or sprayed up the nose, and can stop/reverse a heroin overdose in under two minutes. It's so vital the World Health Organization placed the drug on its list of essential medications in 1983.

That the series finale of M*A*S*H was watched by 125 million people. The U.S. population that year was approx. 203 million people.

The 1983 Atlantic hurricane season was the least active Atlantic hurricane season in 53 years, during this season only four tropical storms formed. The season officially began on June 1, 1983, and lasted until November 30, 1983.

New York City's sewer system experienced a 6.7 million gallon hike after the series finale of M*A*S*H. An estimated one million citizens held it in til the ending.

MTV would repudidly have folded in 1983 if Mick Jagger hadn't agreed to say, "I Want My MTV" in front of a camera and allowed it to be used in MTV's iconic "I Want My MTV" ad campaign. That ad campaign saved the network from ruin.

In 1983, 90% of US media was controlled by fifty companies; today, 90% is controlled by just six companies.

On November 6th, 1983, Will Byers disappeared.

In their 1983 film Monty Python's the Meaning of Life, the Pythons defined the meaning of life as "Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."

Cliff Young, a 61-year-old potato farmer, won a 544 mile endurance race because he ran throughout the night while the younger 'professional' athletes slept.

Papa John sold his car 1983 to help start up his pizza company. He later located and bought the car back in 2009.

An Air Canada flight in 1983 ran out of fuel mid-flight, but the crew managed to glide the 767 to nearby airport. The plane turned out to have only been filled with half the amount of fuel it needed due to a miscalculation because Canada was in the process of converting to the metric system.

The Pittsburgh Penguins purposefully finished last in the 1983-84 season to secure the 1984 draft pick of current owner and hall of famer Mario Lemieux.

Not only was Return of the Jedi 1983's top grossing film, but also it's novelization was the year's top selling book.

John Lasseter was fired from Disney in 1983 for pushing too hard for computer animation. When Disney bought Pixar in 2006, Lasseter was given a $5 million signing bonus, a $2.5 million salary, and control of all Disney's animation projects.

Red Red Wine was written by Neil Diamond in '67. The band UB40 covered it in '83 in a light reggae style and it reached #1 on the Billboard 100. Diamond has stated that it is one of his favorite covers and he often performs the song in the UB40 style instead of the original version.

Musician Frank Zappa had an idea in 1983 that mapped out a sophisticated filesharing system meant to bypass record companies.

Actor Kevin Costner was 'the dead guy' in the opening of the film The Big Chill, but we never saw his face.

Every new issue of adult magazine Hustler has been sent to all 535 Members of Congress since 1983 by owner Larry Flynt. Congress has tried to stop the deliveries but the U.S. District Court has ruled that the delivery cannot be stopped under the First Amendment.

Sci-Fi writer Isaac Asimov contracted HIV from a blood transfusion received during his bypass operation in 1983. His physicians advised him against going public, warning that the anti-AIDS prejudice would likely extend to his family members. He died from HIV complications in 1992.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1983: $400,000

Compuvision Console by Bently, DMS's Tel;esports Mini, My Little Pony, Care Bears, WereBears stuffed bears, Cabbage Patch Kids were the must-have Christmas toy.

The computer mouse was invented.

Sally Ride became the first woman in Space.

In 1966 Dick Shulze founded his stereo store, 'The Sound of Music.' In 1983, he renamed it "Best Buy" and started the current chain of home electronics stores.

J. Crew began selling through a mail-order catalogue.

Bop Magazine (1983-2014)

Vanity Fair began publication

(according to boxofficemojo)
1. Return Of The Jedi
2. Terms of Endearment
3. Flashdance
4. Trading Places
5. WarGames
6. Octopussy
7. Sudden Impact
8. Staying Alive
9. Mr. Mom
10. Risky Business

The Big Chill, Blue Thunder, Flashdance, Jaws 3-D, The Man With Two Brains, Mr. Mom, Never Cry Wolf, Never Say Never Again, Night of the Comet, Octopussy, The Outsiders, Porky's II: The Next Day, Psycho II, Risky Business, Scarface, Silkwood, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (re-release), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Staying Alive, Sudden Impact, Superman III, Terms of Endearment, Trading Places, Twilight Zone: The MovieUncommon Valor, National Lampoon's Vacation, Valley Girl, Videodrome, WarGames, Yentyl