1985-July

• July 3 – Back to the Future opens in American theatres and ends up being the highest grossing film of 1985 in the United States and the first film in the successful franchise.
• July 4 – Ruth Lawrence, 13, achieves a first in mathematics at Oxford University, becoming the youngest British person ever to earn a first-class degree and the youngest known graduate of Oxford University.
• July 10 – The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents.
• July 13
  • Live Aid pop concerts in London and Philadelphia raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
  • U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush serves as Acting President for 8 hours, while President Ronald W. Reagan undergoes colon cancer surgery.
• July 19
  • U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space ShuttleChallenger.
  • The Val di Stava Dam in Italy collapses.
• July 20 – The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who begin to excavate $400 million in coins and silver.
• July 23 – Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer at the Lincoln Center in New York.