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Top
News of 1981
[ Top News ][
Top 100 Songs ][ Top Movies ]
| Date |
Event |
JANUARY
|
| 02 |
Fire breaks out at
La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy |
| 04 |
The show Frankenstein
opens and closes on Broadway, losing $2 million |
| 05 |
In England, Peter
Sutcliffe confesses to the Yorkshire Ripper killings |
| 08 |
London postal worker
intercepts bomb sent to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by
Scottish Socialist Republican League |
| 09 |
A steamer on the
Amazon River in Brazil capsizes with many fatalities |
| 13 |
In Australia, the
Woolworths bomber is caught in trap |
| 14 |
Jimmy Carter delivers
his farewell address, saying that the threat of nuclear destruction,
the physical resources of the planet, and the "pre-eminence
of the basic rights of human beings" should be the most
pressing concerns of the nation |
| 15 |
Legislation is introduced
in US Senate to make this date, (the birthday of Martin Luther
King, Jr) a national holiday |
| 16 |
Boxer Leon Spinks
is mugged and has his gold teeth stolen |
| 20 |
Ronald Reagan, at
69 the oldest man to assume the presidency, is inaugurated.
Minutes later, all 52 US hostages are released from the US embassy
in Teheran. Their total time in captivity was 444 days |
| 25 |
Fanny Thomas, oldest
living American, dies in San Gabriel, CA |
| 25 |
Jiang Qing, widow
of Chairman Mao, and Zhang Chunqiao receive death sentences
suspended for two years. The other two members of the "Gang
of Four" receive long jail sentences |
| 25 |
Oakland Raiders defeat
Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl, become first wildcard team
to win NFL championship |
| 28 |
Freighter Olympic
Glory spills one million gallons of oil into Galveston Bay,
TX after ship collision |
| 29 |
Adolfo Suarez resigns
as prime minister of Spain |
| January |
The European Monetary
Fund (EMF) is set up and the European Currency Unit (ECU) is
introduced |
|
|
FEBRUARY
|
| 03 |
Gro Harlem Brundtland
becomes Norway's first woman prime minister |
| 08 |
American Jim Morgan
dies during international bobsledding race in Italy |
| 08 |
New York Islander
hockey player Mike Bossy ties record of 50 goals in 50 games |
| 09 |
Polish prime minister
Josef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech
Jaruzelski |
| 09 |
US 50's rock singer
Bill Haley dies in his sleep aged 56 |
| 10 |
Fire at Las Vegas
Hilton claims eight lives, injures 198 |
| 12 |
Hotel busboy admits
starting fire in Las Vegas Hilton |
| 13 |
Australian press
magnate Rupert Murdoch buys the London Times for £11
million |
| 14 |
Earthquake strikes
Naples, Italy |
| 17 |
In Italy, Red Brigade
terrorists murder head of Milan hospital |
| 20 |
Australian Coroner
finds "Dingo took Azaria" |
| 23 |
In Spain, Colonel
Terejo Monila storms the Cortes with 200 civil guards and attempts
a coup |
| 23 |
Shell tanker runs
aground in Jamaica, causes oil slick |
| 24 |
Engagement of Prince
Charles to Lady Diana Spencer announced |
| 24 |
Jean Harris convicted
of murdering "Scarsdale Diet" inventor Dr. Herman
Tarnower |
|
|
MARCH
|
| 01 |
Bobby Sands begins
hunger strike in Northern Ireland |
| 02 |
Four senior British
politicians leave the Labour party and set up a new Social Democratic
Party (SDP) |
| 06 |
CBS anchorman Walter
Cronkite presides over his last newscast. He is replaced
by Dan Rather |
| 19 |
Technician dies during
countdown test of space shuttle Columbia |
| 20 |
Jean Harris sentenced
to 15-years-to-life for murder of "Scarsdale Diet"
Dr. Herman Tarnower |
| 20 |
Former Argentinean
president Isabel Perón is sentenced to jail for 8 years
in Argentina. |
| 24 |
Great Train Robber,
Ronald Biggs, arrested in Barbados after having been kidnapped
in Brazil by British special forces |
| 26 |
Carol Burnett wins
her libel suit against The National Enquirer. She donates
her $1.6 million to charities |
| 30 |
President Reagan
wounded in assassination bid by John Hinckley Jr outside a Washington
hotel. Experts said Reagan would have been "blown away"
had Hinckley used a weapon more powerful than a .22 |
| 30 |
Hijacking of Indonesian
airliner ends in Thailand with commando assault on plane |
| 30 |
DeWitt Wallace, founder
of Reader's Digest, dies at 91 |
| 31 |
Military coup in
Thailand overthrows government of Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda |
|
|
APRIL
|
| 04 |
Bucks Fizz win Eurovision
Song Contest for Great Britain with Making Your Mind Up |
| 04 |
Brixton (London)
ablaze as black youths riot |
| 05 |
Bob 'The Bear' Hite,
founder member of US band Canned Heat, dies of a heart attack,
aged 36 |
| 09 |
23rd victim of Atlanta
child killer discovered |
| 10 |
Cuban refugee killed
in attempted hijacking of Eastern Airlines flight from New York
to Miami |
| 10 |
Imprisoned IRA member
Bobby Sands wins seat in British parliament |
| 10/12 |
Many police and civilians
injured in race riots in Brixton, South London |
| 11 |
President Reagan
is released from hospital after assassination attempt |
| 11 |
Valerie Bertinelli
marries rocker Eddie Van Halen |
| 12 |
First US Space Shuttle
Columbia is launched |
| 12 |
Boxer Joe Louis dies |
| 12 |
Prince Charles visits
Australia |
| 13 |
Janet Cooke of the
Washington Post wins the Pulitzer Prize for her story
on a child heroin addict, which later turns out to be completely
fictitious |
| 14 |
Space Shuttle Columbia
lands successfully at Edwards AFB, California |
| 19 |
Body of another young
black male found in Atlanta |
| 20 |
John Phillips of
rock group Mamas & Papas begins serving sentence for drug
dealing |
| 21 |
Former Yippie Abbie
Hoffman begins prison sentence today |
| 22 |
Largest bank robbery
in US history ($33 million) takes place in Tucson, AZ |
| 22 |
Violence follows
funerals of two youths killed by British army truck during recent
riots in Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| 23 |
Barbados refuses
to honour British request for extradition of Great Train Robber
Ronald Biggs, who is set free |
| 24 |
Reagan lifts the
15 month embargo on grain shipments to the USSR |
| 24 |
The IBM PC computer
is introduced |
| 27 |
Another body of a
black youth discovered in Atlanta, GA |
| 27 |
Ringo Starr marries
Barbara Bach in London |
| 29 |
Trial of confessed
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe begins |
| 30 |
New York City celebrates
Empire State Building's 50th anniversary |
|
|
MAY
|
| 02 |
'Pleasant Colony'
wins Kentucky Derby |
| 04 |
General Motors introduces
new J-cars |
| 05 |
The Mets beat the
Yankees 4-1 in the 16th and final Mayor's Trophy Game, New York
City |
| 05 |
IRA prisoner Bobby
Sands dies in the Maze prison, Belfast, after 65 days on a hunger
strike |
| 06 |
USAF plane, a satellite-tracking
EC135, explodes and crashes in western Maryland, killing all
21 crew members aboard |
| 06 |
A freighter and a
ferry collide near the Statue of Liberty in New York |
| 09 |
Muhammad Ali donates
$400,000 reward for arrest and conviction of Atlanta child killer |
| 10 |
Socialist Francois
Mitterand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estaing in French presidential
election, ending 23 years of conservative government |
| 11 |
Yorkshire Ripper
Peter Sutcliffe claims God chose him to kill prostitutes |
| 11 |
Jamaican reggae star,
Bob Marley, dies of cancer in a Miami hospital, aged 36 |
| 11 |
Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical Cats debuts in London |
| 12 |
IRA hunger striker
Francis Hughes dies |
| 13 |
 |
Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded in an assassination
attempt as he blesses the crowd in St Peter's Square,
Rome.
Police detain Mehmet Ali Agca |
|
| 14 |
Boston Celtics win
basketball's national championship, defeating Houston Rockets |
| 14 |
USSR launches Soyuz
40 |
| 15 |
Zara Anne Elizabeth
Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne, is born |
| 21 |
Francois Mitterand
inaugurated as Socialist president of France |
| 21 |
Jailed IRA hunger
striker Raymond McCreesh dies |
| 21 |
New York Islanders
win hockey's Stanley Cup |
| 22 |
Yorkshire Ripper
Peter Sutcliffe sentenced to life imprisonment |
| 22 |
Street violence increases
in Northern Ireland following death of IRA hunger striker Patsy
O'Hara |
| 24 |
Dixon of Dock
Green actor Jack Warner dies |
| 25 |
Young black man found
in Chattahoochee River said to be 28th victim of Atlanta serial
killer |
| 25 |
Clad in Spiderman
outfit, Dan Goodwin climbs Chicago's Sears Tower and is arrested
at the top |
| 27 |
Marine Corp jet landing
on carrier USS Nimitz during night crashes, causing
fire and killing 14. Traces of marijuana found in remains of
some of the servicemen killed |
| 29 |
Woman seizes Ohio
TV station and takes hostage |
| 30 |
Bangladesh President
Ziaur Rahman assassinated in coup attempt; VP Abdus Sattar takes
control of government |
|
|
JUNE
|
| 07 |
Israeli planes bomb
Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad |
| 12 |
Pro baseball players
begin their first-ever mid-season strike over the issue of compensation
to owners when players become free agents. It lasts for
50 days |
| 13 |
Marcus Sarjeant,
17 years old, charged with treason after firing six blanks at
Queen Elizabeth in The Mall |
| 16 |
After visiting the
People's Republic of China, Secretary of State Alexander Haig
announces that the US will now sell arms to Beijing |
| 17 |
Gunman kills four
in bank before being shot by police in Rochester, New York |
| 19 |
European Space Agency
launches two satellites |
| 19 |
George Washington's
false teeth are stolen from Smithsonian Institute |
| 21 |
Wayne Williams is
charged for the serial murders of 28 black children and young
adults in Atlanta, Georgia |
| 22 |
Supreme Court rules,
4-4, that former president Nixon and three top aides may be
required to pay monetary damages for unconstitutional wiretap
of home telephone of former national security aide |
| 22 |
Mark Chapman pleads
guilty to the charge of murdering John Lennon outside the Dakota
Building in New York in 1980 |
|
|
JULY
|
| 04/15 |
 |
Riots break out in Toxteth, Liverpool, and other parts
of the UK, including London |
|
| 08 |
Banks and steel industry
in France nationalised by Socialist government. |
| 08 |
IRA hunger striker
Joe McDonnell dies |
| 11 |
France performs nuclear
test on Mururoa Island |
| 13 |
IRA hunger striker
Martin Hurson dies |
| 15 |
FDA approves artificial
sweetener aspartame |
| 16 |
Harry Chapin dies
in a car crash, aged 38 |
| 17 |
Opening of the Humber
Bridge |
| 18 |
More than 110 die
in collapse of aerial walkways in lobby of Hyatt Regency Hotel
in Kansas City; 188 are injured |
| 19 |
British Government
refuses to negotiate with remaining IRA hunger strikers in Belfast
prison |
| 22 |
Sentence of life
imprisonment pronounced on Mehmet Ali Agca for attempted assassination
of Pope John Paul II |
| 25 |
Rugby fans clash
with anti-apartheid demonstrators in New Zealand during a tour
by the South African team |
| 27 |
More rioting erupts
in Liverpool, England |
| 29 |
World's eyes watch
Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer |
| 30 |
Gambian President
Sir Dawda, Kairaba Jawara overthrown while out of country to
attend royal wedding in London |
| 31 |
Panamanian leader
General Omar Torrijos dies in plane crash |
| 31 |
Mother of IRA hunger
striker Patrick Quinn gives authorities permission to save his
life |
|
|
AUGUST
|
| 01 |
MTV, television's
first 24-hour music channel, premieres at 12:01 and changes
the music business forever |
| 01 |
IRA hunger striker
Kevin Lynch dies in Belfast prison; reaction on streets shows
weakening support for strikers |
| 02 |
IRA hunger striker
Kieran Doherty dies in Belfast prison |
| 03 |
13,000 members of
PATCO, the American air traffic controllers union, go on a nationwide
strike. Reagan gives them two days to return to work or else
lose their jobs |
| 03 |
Mafia chief Carlos
Marcello convicted in FBI Brilab sting operation |
| 04 |
Reagan's plan to
reduce income taxes is passed by Congress. The bill reduces
income taxes by 5% as of October 1, 10% as of July 1, 1982 and
a further 10% from July 1, 1983 |
| 05 |
Reagan administration
sends termination notices to all air traffic controllers on
strike. PATCO union leaders are arrested |
| 07 |
Over one million
Solidarity members strike in Poland over food shortages |
| 08 |
IRA hunger striker
Thomas McElwee dies in Belfast's Maze Prison |
| 10 |
President Reagan
authorizes production of the neutron bomb |
| 12 |
East German successfully
escapes across Berlin Wall to West Germany |
| 12 |
IBM introduces PC
(with 64k of RAM and a single floppy disk drive) and PC-DOS
version 1.0 |
| 15 |
Fatalities result
when a crane collides with an amusement park ride in Hamburg,
West Germany |
| 15 |
Imprisoned IRA hunger
striker Patrick Quinn agrees to end strike |
| 16 |
New Zealand's 13-0
defeat of Fiji sets record for highest score in World Cup soccer |
| 19 |
US aircraft shoot
down two Libyan jets over the Gulf of Sidra after the planes
open fire on the US Navy. Libya claim the Gulf is Libyan territory,
while the US insist that the body of water 60 miles off the
coast of Libya is international territory |
| 20 |
Imprisoned IRA hunger
striker Michael Devine dies in Belfast, N. Ireland |
| 21 |
Family of jailed
IRA hunger striker Patrick McGeown give authorities permission
to save his life |
| 24 |
Mark Chapman is sentenced
to 20 years in prison for murdering John Lennon |
| 24 |
Church of England
becomes the Anglican church in Australia |
| 25 |
Kings Cross (Australia)
fire kills nine people |
| 30 |
Iranian President
& Prime Minister assassinated in bomb blast |
|
|
SEPTEMBER
|
| 04 |
The US Agriculture
Department classifies ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables
in its retooling of the school lunch program |
| 11 |
USSR warns Polish
government about its loss of control and concessions to protesters |
| 18 |
France's President
Mitterand abolishes the guillotine |
| 19 |
Australian Judge
calls for new inquest on Azaria Chamberlain death |
| 25 |
Sandra Day O'Connor,
51, of Arizona - a proponent of the death penalty and abortion
rights - becomes the first woman sworn in to the US Supreme
Court |
|
|
OCTOBER
|
| 03 |
Hunger strike in
Belfast's Maze prison is called off after 10 deaths |
| 06 |
Egyptian President
Sadat assassinated in Cairo by Muslim fundamentalists. |
| 10 |
Hosni Mubarak succeeds
Sadat as Egyptian President |
| 18 |
In Greece, the first
socialist government is elected under Andreas Papandreou |
|
|
NOVEMBER
|
| 05 |
Sweden releases a
Soviet submarine after capturing it ten days prior when it ran
aground in Swedish waters |
| 14 |
The Space Shuttle
Columbia completes its historic second mission, marking
the first time a manned vehicle is reused for another space
voyage |
| 18 |
In a televised address
that is also broadcast in Europe, President Reagan outlines
a four-point arms control proposal, saying that the US will
cancel its plans to deploy medium range Pershing 2 and
cruise missiles in Europe if the USSR agrees to dismantle its
own medium-range missiles on the continent |
| 29 |
Actress Natalie Wood
drowns off the coast of California. Many believe her death isn't
an accident |
|
|
DECEMBER
|
| 03 |
Martial law is imposed
in Poland. Solidarity is banned and its leader, Lech
Walesa, is placed under arrest |
| 04 |
President Reagan
authorizes covert domestic intelligence operations by the CIA
and other agencies |
| 14 |
Israel annexes the
Golan Heights, which it had captured from Syria during the 1967
war. The UN Security Council declares the annexation is
illegal |
| 22 |
Leopoldo Galtieri
becomes president of Argentina |
| 29 |
President Reagan
responds to the USSR's imposition of martial law in Poland by
outlawing the sales of equipment to be used in the Siberian
gas pipeline, and by ending negotiations on the new long-term
grain purchase agreement between the two superpowers |
| 31 |
Former flight lieutenant
Jerry Rawlings overthrows the government of President Hilla
Limann and seizes power again in Ghana |
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