Italian semiotics professor Umberto Eco publishes his medieval detective novel, The Name of the Rose.

Anthony Burgess publishes Earthly Powers.

Nuns and Soldiers, by Iris Murdoch, is published.

German motion-picture director Rainer Werner Fassbinder completes his fifteen-and-a-half-hour Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa releases Kagemusha.

Man of Iron, by Polish director Andrzej Wajda, is released.

Alain Resnais's Mon oncle d'Amerique (My American Uncle), starring Gerard Depardieu, is released.

The British rock group Joy Division disbands following the May suicide of their lead singer, Ian Curtis.

British unemployment reaches 2.5 million by year's end, the highest number since 1935. Inflation climbs above 20 percent, double its rate when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took office in 1979.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raises the price of a barrel of crude oil to $32. Gasoline prices rise accordingly.

The Church of England replaces the Book of Common Prayer, used in services since 1569, with the Alternative...