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That had me stumped for a while. I think the first four words are extra, the next two the definition, and you have to remove four central letters from what 1984 is an example of (next occurring in 2020) For the wordplay

Many thanks Quisling, much appreciated.
Of course!
I had a couple of ideas for 1984 but not the obvious one.-

I have finished the whole puzzle and removed three French names from the three answers but don’t understand the reference to “two thirds of a population”. Can anyone give me a clue as to what I should be looking for? Thanks a lot.

Before the deletions you should have had six other names unclued? These have been thematically affected by the deletions.

Finally filled the grid, although I don’t understand 21d and 22d. Now I appear to be stuck. I think I know what to do, but I can only make 6 new words. I assume there must be blank cells, but how many? So frustrating when you fall at the last hurdle.

Thanks planks. I think I understand now. I’m not familiar with the details of this theme.

xij, 21dn refers to atomic number 25 and is an anagram of I + manages. 22dn has “cycling” chip around SWI.

There are blank cells in 1ac, 6ac and 21dn. Look for names.

Thanks, Unclued (post 33), for clarifying what exactly had to be done to the three entries. With that help I have now tied everything up, I hope. Thanks to others also for little nudges on the way, without which I’d probably have given up.

The preamble refers to a fatal affliction suffered by “only two-thirds”, i.e. 6 of the 9, who lose their heads. But the other three seem to be totally exterminated!

Rad, or maybe the three have escaped?