1981

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Here is what was happening in the world.

January

• January - The subterranean Sarawak chamber is discovered in Borneo

• January 1 - Greece enters the European Community, which later became the European Union

• January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing

• January 4 - Sheffield police arrests Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper

• January 13 - Donna Griffiths, a schoolgirl in Pershore, Worcestershire, UK, begins an uncontrollable series of sneezes that end September 16, 1983 - after 978 days

• January 16 - Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband

• January 18 - Historic Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981 confirms that superior wines could be made outside of France

• January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity

• January 20 - President-elect Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as President of the United States of America. Minutes after Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days - Iran hostage crisis ends

February

• February 4 - Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the Prime Minister of Norway

• February 8 - 21 fans of the Greek Olympiacos FC lose their lives and 54 more get injured after a stampede at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Pireus. The deadly incident was most probably caused due to the fact that Gate 7 of the stadium did not open immediately after the end of the game.

• February 9 - Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski

• February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198

• February 14 - Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia

• February 23 - Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies, and stops the session, where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo was going to be named president of the government. The coup d'état would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.

• February 24 - Shortly before 11 p.m. local time, a powerful 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Athens, killing 16 people, most of whom die because of related heart attacks. The quake's epicentre is located in the eastern Corinthian Gulf, near the tiny Alkyonides Islands, approximately 60 Km west of the city. Dozens of buildings collapse in the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylocastro. A 6.4 magnitude aftershock that strikes the area a few hours later, at 4:30 a.m local time, results in the damage or collapse of an additional number of buildings in the previously mentioned towns.

March

• March 1 - Bobby Sands, an IRA member, begins a hunger strike for political status in Long Kesh prison - he dies May 5, the first of ten men.

• March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.

• March 6 - Pole Henryk Zieliński dies under suspicious circumstances.

• March 7 - Colombian guerillas execute US bible translator Chester Allen Bitterman for being a CIA agent

• March 11 - Chilean president Augusto Pinochet sworn in for an eight-year term as president.

• March 19 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

• March 30 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded.

April

• April 1 - Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR.

• April 11 - Riot in Brixton, South London - rioters throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.

• April 12 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14

• April 15 - The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from cabinet accusing the Australian Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty.

• April 18

  • A Minor League baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning was not played until June 23).

  • Rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983).

• April 24 - First round in the French presidential election, 1981. Runoff between Valery Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand

May

• May - Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon Basin

• May 5 - Bobby Sands MP, IRA member, dies on Hunger Strike after 66 days.

• May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.

• May 10 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France (French presidential election, 1981), François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

• May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot at and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience. (Two days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul went to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin)

• May 15 - Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith: the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States.

• May 21 - In France, socialist François Mitterrand becomes president of the Republic.

• May 22 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, imprisoned for life for 13 counts of murder

• May 24 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Bobby Unser wins for a third time for both he as a driver and Roger Penske as a car owner, but race sanctioning-body USAC temporarily strips him of victory over accusation of illegally passing other cars under a caution period (see racing flags). After team appeal, Unser's win is reinstated on October 8.

• May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

• May 26 - The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell P-2

• May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.

June

• June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were the first recognized cases of AIDS).

• June 6 - Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi, in Bihar, India - about 800 die

• June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor

• June 12 - Major League Baseball goes on strike, forcing the cancellation of 38 percent of the schedule.

• June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sargeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.

• June 22 - Hamas attacks a travel agency in Greece - two dead

• June 22 - Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr deposed

• June 29 - Morris Edwin Robert armed with a machine gun holds hostages in the FBI section in Atlanta, Georgia, Federal Building. After three hours the hostages are rescued - Robert is shot (dead?)

July

• July 10 - Mahathir bin Mohamad became the 4th prime minister of Malaysia

• July 17 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114

• July 17 - Israeli bombers destroy the PLO headquarters in Beirut

• July 19 - 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over support of Apartheid.

• July 27 - Wheel of Fortune premiers in Australia on the Seven Network

• July 29 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales

August

• August 1 - MTV (Music Television) is launched.

• August 3 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization goes on strike.

• August 5 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

• August 7 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.

• August 9 - Major League Baseball resumes from strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.

• August 11 - The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

• August 19 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981). Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two US fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.

• August 19 - US President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.

• August 19 - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, aka the pop duo Pet Shop Boys, meet for the first time by chance in an electronics shop in Chelsea, London.

• August 28 - South African troops invade Angola.

• August 31 - A bomb explodes at the US Army base in Ramstein, West Germany injuring 20 people.

September

• September 4 - An explosion at a mine in Zalizin, Czechoslovakia - 65 dead.

• September 10 - Picasso's painting "Guernica" is moved from New York to Madrid.

• September 15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC.

• September 18 - France abolishes capital punishment.

• September 19 - The second Wranslide occurs in New South Wales with the Wran government re-elected for a third term with an increased majority and reducing the Liberal Party to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly.

• September 21 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

October

• October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.

• October 10 - The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.

• October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.

• October 21 - Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.

November

• November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom

• November 12 - The Space Shuttle Columbia, piloted by Joe Engle and Richard Truly, lifts off for its second mission (STS-2).

• November 13 - The first Friday the 13th event held by motorcyclists in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada

• November 23 - Iran-Contra scandal: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua

• November 25-November 26 - Group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet, six are later arrested

• November 30 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on Thursday, December 17)

December

• December 1 - A Yugoslavian DC-9 crashes into a mountain while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica killing 178

• December 4 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa)

• December 8 - No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13

• December 9 - Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's younger brother.

• December 11 - El Mozote massacre - in El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians

• December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares the state of martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity

• December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. This is the first modern suicide bombing. Syrian intelligence is blamed.

• December 20 - The Penlee lifeboat disaster off the coast of South-West Cornwall

• December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born (Norfolk, Virginia)

Unknown Dates

• Millennium Reenactment of the translation of Saint Edward the Martyr's relics from Wareham to Shaftesbury

• Mauritania abolishes the institution of slavery.

• The counter-culture wire service LNS ceases operations.

• The State Council of the People's Republic of China listed the four cities (Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin) as where the protection of historical and cultural heritage as well as natural scenery should be treated as a priority project.

• Cuba suffers a major outbreak of Dengue hemorrhagic fever, with 344,203 cases. [1]

• Computer and Video Games (magazine) begins publication.

• The DMC DeLorean automobile begins production

Births

January

• January 1 - Eden Riegel, American actress

• January 6 - Mike Jones, American rapper

• January 15 - Howie Day, American singer and songwriter

• January 17 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor

• January 20 - Jason Richardson, American basketball player

• January 22 - Chantelle Anderson, American basketball player

• January 22 - Willa Ford, American singer, television hostess, and actress

• January 22 - Beverley Mitchell, American actress

• January 22 - Ben Moody, American guitarist (Evanescence)

• January 28 - Elijah Wood, American actor and music producer

• January 31 - Justin Timberlake, American musician

February

• February 3 - Alisa Reyes, American actress

• February 10 - The Reverend Tholomew Plague, American drummer (Avenged Sevenfold)

• February 11 - Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child)

• February 14 - Erin Torpey, American actress

• February 15 - Jenna Morasca, American television personality

• February 17 - Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite

• February 20 - Majandra Delfino, American actress

• February 27 - Josh Groban, American singer

March

• March 2 - Bryce Howard, American actress

• March 3 - Lil' Flip, American rapper

• March 10 - Kristen Maloney, American gymnast

• March 11 - David Anders, American actor

• March 11 - LeToya Luckett, American singer (Destiny's Child)

• March 15 - Young Buck, American rapper

• March 28 - Lindsay Frimodt, American model

• March 28 - Julia Stiles, American actress

April

• April 2 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress and singer

• April 10 - Gretchen Bleiler, American snowboarder

• April 10 - Liz McClarnon, British singer (Atomic Kitten)

• April 10 - Michael Pitt, American actor

• April 14 - Mary Castro, American model and actress

• April 21 - Mike Christie, English musician (G4)

• April 28 - Jessica Alba, American actress

May

• May 3 - Farrah Franklin, American singer (formerly of Destiny's Child)

• May 5 - Danielle Fishel, American actress

• May 15 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress

• May 20 - Sean Conlon, English musician (5ive)

June

• June 6 - Johnny Pacar, American actor

• June 7 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player

• June 7 - Larisa Oleynik, American actress

• June 9 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress

• June 10 - Hoku Ho, Hawaiian singer and musician

• June 13 - Christopher Robert Evans, American actor

• June 16 - Ben Kweller, American musician

• June 20 - Alisan Porter, American actress and singer

• June 21 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)

July-August

• July 2 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American activist

• July 7 - Synyster Gates, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)

• July 23 - Steve Jocz, Canadian drummer (Sum 41)

• July 24 - Summer Glau, American actress (Firefly)

• July 31 - M. Shadows, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)

• August 4 - Marques Houston, American singer and actor

• August 8 - Meagan Good, American actress

• August 24 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor

• August 25 - Rachel Bilson, American actress

• August 29 - Lanny Barbie, American actress

September

• September 1 - Clinton Portis, American football player

• September 2 - Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress

• September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, American actress and singer (Destiny's Child)

• September 8 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor

• September 12 - Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress

• September 16 - Alexis Bledel, American actress

• September 21 - Nicole Richie, American actress

• September 22 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player

• September 26 - Serena Williams, American tennis player

• September 30 - Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast

October

• October 20 - Willis McGahee, American football player

• October 22 - Michael Fishman, American actor

• October 29 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer

• October 30 - Ivanka Trump, American model

• October 31 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)

November

• November 1 - LaTavia Roberson, American singer (Destiny's Child)

• November 3 - Jackie Gayda, American professional wrestler

• November 8 - Azura Skye, American actress

• November 26 - Aurora Snow, American actress

December

• December 2 - Britney Spears, American singer

• December 3 - Brian Bonsall, American actor

• December 4 - Lila McCann, American singer

• December 7 - Ben Adams, British singer (a1)

• December 9 - Dia Mirza, Bollywood Actress

• December 11 - Zacky Vengeance, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)

• December 13 - Amy Lee, American singer (Evanescence)

• December 28 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, first American test-tube baby

• December 28 - Sienna Miller, American-born actress

• December 29 - Angela Via, American singer

• December 30 - Haley Paige, American actress

Deaths

January-April

• January 5 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)

• January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet, and activist (b. 1901)

• January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)

• January 10 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)

• January 23 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)

• January 31 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)

• February 1 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)

• February 9 - Bill Haley, American musician (b. 1925)

• February 15 - Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)

• February 18 - John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)

• February 20 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)

• February 26 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)

• March 6 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)

• March 7 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)

• March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)

• March 23 - Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)

• April 7 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)

• April 12 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)

• April 18 - James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)

• April 27 - John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)

May-August

• May 5 - Bobby Sands, Irish republican (hunger strike) (b. 1954)

• May 9 - Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)

• May 9 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)

• May 11 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)

• May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)

• May 18 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)

• June 1 - Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (b. 1883)

• June 9 - Allen Ludden, American television game show host (b. 1917)

• June 17 - Sir Richard O'Connor, English general (b. 1889)

• June 19 - Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (b. 1899)

• June 28 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)

• July 16 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)

• July 29 - Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)

• August 14 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)

September-October

• September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (b. 1905)

• September 2 - Enid Lyons, Australia politician (b. 1897)

• September 8 - Bill Shankly, Scottish football manager (b. 1913)

• September 8 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)

• September 9 - Sir Robert (Bob) Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)

• September 12 - Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)

• October 2 - Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)

• October 6 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1918)

• October 16 - Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)

• October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)

• October 29 - Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)

November-December

• November 7 - Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)

• November 14 - Robert Bradford, Northern Irish footballer and politician (assassinated) (b. 1941)

• November 16 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)

• November 22 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)

• November 25 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)

• November 29 - Natalie Wood, American actress (drowned) (b. 1938)

• December 3 - Walter Knott, American farmer and theme park creator (b. 1889)

• December 28 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai M. Siegbahn

• Chemistry - Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann

• Medicine - Roger W. Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten N. Wiesel

• Literature - Elias Canetti

• Peace - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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