Population 8636
Cold spell in mid January, produces heavy drifting show, Aberystwyth cut off - harbour froze over, supplies dropped in by helicopter. First week of college term cancelled.
United Kingdom at war with Argentina over the ownership of the Falkland Islands
Start of the television channel S4C, part of whose output is in Welsh
Year long miners strike starts.
Earthquake felt in Aberystwyth at 6.56am Magnitude 5.4, epicentre Llŷn Peninsula
A leak of Methyl Isocyanate gas from a pesticide production plant next to the Central Indian city of Bhopal was the world's worst industrial disaster.
New Camera Obscura opened on Constitution Hill
Built in 1896, Alexandra Hall is closed down and sold. For 2 decades there were various private attempts to run it as a hostel but mostly it stood empty. After major renovation in 2004/5 the university is again offering it to students via a private partnership.
Commemorating the 900th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book, the BBC use schools and community groups to take a snapshot of ordinary life in Britain including bits-and-pieces from Aberystwyth
Launched in 1977, American spacecraft Voyager 2 - scanned Uranus as it flew by.
A test run of one of the reactors at Chernobyl (Soviet Ukraine) nuclear power station resulted in an explosion that destroyed the reactor and resulted in the world's worst radiation leak.
Hurricane hits Aberystwyth. This was the worst storm since 1703 and subsequently estimated to have caused £1bn of damage in the UK
(cf Storms in 1703, 1866, 1887, 1896, 1910, 1927, 1938, 2002 and 2014)University chemistry department closed down
An international climate treaty called the Montreal Protocol comes into force that limits pollution from chemicals know to damage the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.
Launched in 1977, American spacecraft Voyager 2 - scanned Neptune as it flew by.
Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge railway privatised
After years of being unused Neuadd Y Brenin/The King's Hall is demolished. Despite being declared unsafe, it was no push over - and the demolition schedule was drawn out as welders with cutting equipment were called in.
College of Librarianship Wales (opened in 1964) becomes part of the university
Stone Roses play at the University
Earthquake felt in Aberystwyth at 14.50 - Magnitude 5.1, epicentre Bishop's Castle (Shropshire)
The Hubble Telescope is the first telescope launched into space
University's student residence, Padarn Hall, turned into shops and offices.
Built around 1727 as the Gogerddan Arms it has been -> New Black Lion(?) -> by 1835: Lion Royal Hotel -> Padarn Hall.
The temperature reached 35.2°C in Hawarden Bridge , Flintshire.
Yeltsin is inaugurated as the Russian President at the Kremlin.
The signing of an arms control treaty between the United States(Bush) and the Soviet Union(Gorbachev) begins a phased process of reducing strategic nuclear arsenals. But the events of the remainder of this year delay its implementation.
Computer programs that started the 'world wide web' released
Hardline members of Gorbachev's communist party are unhappy with his liberalising and decentralising reforms. Two weeks into Gorbachev's family holiday at his villa in Crimea the phone lines are disconnected and he is placed under house arrest. Senior Party, Army and KGB officials demand that he resigns.
Tank divisions are moved into Moscow while coup supporters take over government buildings and television stations around the Soviet Union. But before they gain control of the Russian parliamentary building (The White House) Yeltsin (Russia's president) and his supporters take it over, set up barricades and call on others against the coup to help defend the The White House. Fearing a return to mass repression, underlings start to defy the coup leaders.
The counter-coup does not restore the previous level of power to Gorbachev and the Soviet Union. Instead, Yeltsin assumes control of the Russian economy and the Soviet security apparatus on Russian territory. This fatally undermines the authority of the Soviet Union.
Yeltsin bans the Communist Party from Russia due to its support for the coup.
Gorbachev resigns as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and urges the party's Central Committee to dissolve itself.
Ukraine declares independence ( = re-independence)
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspended all 'Communist Party of the Soviet Union' activity on Soviet territory and instructs the prosecutor's office to investigate its leadership's role in the coup.
With the Soviet Union dissolved, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus sign agreement setting up a Commonwealth of Independent States.
Another eight former Soviet republics join the Commonwealth of Independent States
In a televised address Gorbachev ends his activities as the Soviet Union's president.
The upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union voted to adopt the declaration that: 'the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States had, in effect, ended the existence of the the USSR'.
National Eisteddfod comes to Aberystwyth
Well over 500,000 people are killed over a period of 100 days Rwandan Genocide
Official opening of the 51km tunnel connecting England to mainland Europe
The nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union was complicated when the Soviet Union restructured into a Commonwealth of Independent States in late 1991. In the three Budapest Memoranda the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States each promised to respect the sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine | Belarus | Kazakhstan.
Ukraine's (Soviet era) nuclear arsenal is the third largest in the world. (To have been used the 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads would have needed enabling launch codes from Russia but the 2,650-4,200 tactical nuclear weapons were able to be used independently.)
With the security assurances of the Budapest Memorandum in place Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan believe it is now safe to transfer their entire nuclear weapons stockpiles to Russia for decommissioning and to join the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty as non-nuclear weapons states.
After 12 years of negotiations all conditions are finally in place for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to come into force. This treaty will lead to the removal of about 80% of all strategic nuclear weapons.
Although a 1865 amendment to the US constitution banned slavery it was not accepted by all the states. Mississippi did not ratify the amendment until 1995.
Having been created in 1974, the county of Dyfed was broken up into three unitary authorities.
Aberystwyth makes the national headline news when the final ⅓ of the Queen's visit is abandoned because of egg throwing nationalist students protesting on Pengalis Campus.
American spacecraft Mars Pathfinder - delivers the 1st rover to Mars.
North Road Hospital closed and demolished.
Fanned by an on shore breeze, a small fire that started in the derelict SeaBank Hotel (on the prom) spread to destroy Plyn' & Caerleon Halls of residence despite the efforts of over 100 fire fighters from as far away as Bangor and Swansea. Both halls have since been completely rebuilt.
Formation of Welsh Assembly extends the level of autonomy of Wales