What was going on when I was born?

1980Darius Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2022)^[†]

Darius Campbell Danesh was a Scottish singer-songwriter, actor and film producer. He first came to prominence as Darius Danesh when he appeared in the first series of Popstars in 2001, and the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol.

1980Craig Frawley, Australian rugby league player^[†]

Craig Frawley is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played in the National Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos and the Canberra Raiders, usually as a wing or centre.

1980Jun Jin, South Korean singer^[†]

Park Choong-jae, known professionally as Jun Jin, is a South Korean singer, actor and entertainer, known as a member and rapper of six-member boy band Shinhwa. He debuted as a dancer and rapper in Shinhwa in 1998 but started singing small parts in 2002; the release of Shinhwa's fifth album. He debuted as a solo artist in November 2006 with the single Love Doesn't Come.

1980Paul Parry, Welsh footballer^[†]

Paul Ian Parry is a Welsh former footballer who is the assistant manager alongside Marc Ingles in the Ardal South East side Chepstow Town. He is a former Wales international, and played for Hereford United, Cardiff City, Preston North End and Shrewsbury Town during a 16-year professional career.

1980Michael Todd, American bass player^[†]

Michael Robert Todd or Mic Todd is the former bassist for the progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria. Upon the time of his initial departure, he had been with the band for ten years. He officially parted ways with the band in 2011.

1980Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman, father of Anne Frank (born 1889)^[†]

Otto Heinrich Frank was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 and advised on its later theatrical and cinematic adaptations. In the 1950s and the 1960s, he established European charities in his daughter's name and founded the trust which preserved his family's wartime hiding place, the Anne Frank House, in Amsterdam.

1980Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.^[†]

Saudia Flight 163 was a scheduled Saudia passenger flight departing from Quaid-e-Azam Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, bound for Kandara Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, via Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which caught fire after takeoff from Riyadh International Airport on 19 August 1980. Although the Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar made a successful emergency landing at Riyadh, the flight crew failed to perform an emergency evacuation of the airplane, leading to the deaths of all 287 passengers and 14 crew on board the aircraft from smoke inhalation.

1980Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.^[†]

The Otłoczyn railway accident was a train crash which occurred on 19 August 1980, near the village of Otłoczyn. At 4:30 a.m., a freight train collided with a passenger train which ran from Toruń Main Station to Łódź Kaliska. As a result, 65 people were killed, and 64 injured, out of which an additional two later died, bringing the total number of dead to 67. It was caused by one of the drivers proceeding without permission in a thick fog. To date, it is the deadliest railway accident in peacetime history of Poland.