1981

Events

   * Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as President of the United States
     of America
   * January 1 - Greece enters the European Community
   * January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing
   * January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to
     release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity
   * January 20 - Iran releases 52 American hostages that were captive for
     444 days minutes after Ronald Reagan becomes president.
   * February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight
     and injures 198.
   * February 11 - Polish Prime Minister Jozef Pinkowski replaced by
     Wojciech Jaruzelski
   * 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'etat would fail thanks to King Juan Carlos.
   * February 24 - Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Dr. Herman
     Tarnower, the author of the bestselling The Complete Scarsdale Medical
     Diet
   * March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News Walter Cronkite
     signs off for the last time.
   * March 19 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of
     the Space Shuttle Columbia.
   * March 29 - First running of the London Marathon
   * March 30 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a
     Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr., family friend of the
     Vice President. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded.
   * April 12 - Columbia 1 mission, first launch of a Space Shuttle
   * 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 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot at and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali
     Agca, 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 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between
     Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
     Emirates.
   * June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor
   * July 17 - Hyatt Hotel disaster: Two skywalks filled with people at the
     Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded
     atrium lobby killing 114.
   * July 29 - Diana Spencer marries Charles Windsor, also known as Princess
     Diana and Prince Charles
   * 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 19 - Libyan leader Omar Khadafi sends two Sukoi Su-22 fighter
     jets to take on a couple of United States fighters over the Gulf of
     Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.
   * October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt
     one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated.
   * December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares the state of martial law in
     Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity
   * December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr,
     is born (Norfolk, Virginia).

   * US President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female US Supreme Court
     Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor
   * The Pac-Man video game is introduced in the US

Art, Culture & Fashion

   * 1981 in film
        o June 12 - Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford
        o Chariots of Fire
        o On Golden Pond
   * 1981 in music
        o Grandmaster Flash]'s "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" is the
          first recording to use scratching
   * 1981 in theatre
        o May 11 - the first performance of the history-making musical,
          Cats.
   * 1981 in sports
        o January 25 - Super Bowl XV Oakland Raiders (27) def. Philadelphia
          Eagles (10)
        o July 24-August 2 - First World Games held in Santa Clara,
          California
        o August 21 - Salvador Sanchez defeats Wilfredo Gomez by a knockout
          in 8 to retain his WBC world Featherweight boxing title in Las
          Vegas.
        o September 16 - Sugar Ray Leonard knocks out Thomas Hearns in round
          14, in Las Vegas, to unify the world's Welterweight boxing
          championship.
   * 1981 in television
        o January 20 - Comedian Andy Kaufman ruins sketches and starts a
          brawl live on the air during ABC's Friday's.
        o August 1 - MTV debuts on Cable television, playing music videos 24
          hours a day
        o Luke and Lauras's Wedding on General Hospital, becomes the most
          watched wedding in television history, other than the wedding of
          Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Historical Relic and Ancient Remain

   * The State Council 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 prior
     project.

Births

   * January 4 - Alicia Keys, Musician
   * January 28 - Elijah Wood, Actor
   * September 26 - Serena Williams, Tennis Player
   * November 25 - Barbara and Jenna Bush, daughters of President George W.
     Bush
   * December 2 - Britney Spears, Singer
   * December 13 - Amy Lee, Evanescence frontwoman

Deaths

   * January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, philosopher, poet and non-violent activist
   * January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Novelist
   * January 23 - Samuel Barber, Composer
   * February 9 - Bill Haley, Musician
   * March 9 - Max DelbrŸck, German biologist
   * April 7 - Norman Taurog, director
   * May 7 - Eddit Rabbitt, musician
   * May 11 - Bob Marley, reggae musician
   * May 18 - William Saroyan, author
   * June 28 - Terry Fox, cancer activist
   * September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official
   * October 6 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (assassinated)
   * October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general
   * November 22 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German medical doctor and
     biochemist
   * December 28 - Allan Dwan, pioneer film director

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
   * Economics - James Tobin

Computing

   * Commodore VIC-20, Sinclair ZX81, and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
     launched, helping to start the 1980s home computing phenomenon.
   * IBM PC released

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