1980

On 14 February 1980, Dr Owen Harper, Torchwood Three operative, was born. (TV: Exit Wounds)

On 15 April, Samantha Jones, future companion of the Eighth Doctor, was born. (PROSE: Unnatural History)

The science fiction film Prey for a Miracle, which was inspired by UFO / gods scare caused by the Latter-Day Pantheon in New York City in March and April 1965, was released. It was directed by a newcomer named Anthony Jones. The film's screenplay was based on the book How I Saved the World by Alexander Lullington-Smythe, which was published by Aphrodite Press in 1976 and was "very publicly discredited" in 1978. The veteran science fiction and horror star Peter Cushing played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who," a character loosely based on the First Doctor. However, a film critic for the magazine Film in Focus noted that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure." (PROSE: Salvation)

In December, the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith visited New Zealand. (PROSE: Autaia Pipipi Pia)

On 8 December, knowing of the impending assassination of former Beatle John Lennon, the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield travelled to New York City. Mark David Chapman, influenced by the Blue, shot and killed him anyway. (PROSE: The Left-Handed Hummingbird)

On 25 December, Professor Edward Travers, CBE, died. (PROSE: Downtime)

Victoria Waterfield visited Det-Sen Monastery in Tibet, believing that she was obeying a summons from her father Edward Waterfield. (PROSE: Downtime)

While visiting 1911 with the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith told Laurence Scarman that she was from the year 1980. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)

An earthquake damaged Pompeii and uncovered the buried TARDIS. Captain Muriel Frost called in the Fifth Doctor to inform him of the discovery. (AUDIO: The Fires of Vulcan)

A cult, which believed that God was an impossibly long number, took up residence on Fleming's Island off the coast of Ireland. (AUDIO: Iterations of I)

Alternative timeline
The Fourth Doctor took Sarah Jane Smith and Laurence Scarman from 1911 and showed them what 1980 would look like if Sutekh freed himself: a lifeless Earth orbiting a dead sun. This alternative timeline convinced Sarah that they had to return to 1911 and stop Sutekh. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)