| |
|
1981 |
| January 1st |
 |
In
Europe, Greece entered the European Economic Community (EEC). |
|
| January 4th |
|
In
Britain, the Sheffield police arrested Peter Sutcliffe, the
Yorkshire Ripper. |
|
| January 15th |
|
Pope
John Paul II receieved a Polish delegation at the Vatican, led
by the leader of the Solidarity (Solidarnosc) trade union, an
electrician from the Gdañsk shipyard, Lech Walesa. |
|
| January 16th |
|
Protestant
gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband. |
|
| January 19th |
|
United
States and Iranian officials signed an agreement to release
the 52 American hostages. The hostages had been captive since
November 4th 1979, a period of 444 days. |
|
| January 20th |
|
In
the United States, the newly elected President Ronald Reagan
delivered his first inaugural address in Washington D.C. |
|
| January 20th |
|
As
Ronald Reagan succeeded Jimmy Carter as President of the United
States of America, Iran released the 52 American hostages that
had been held captive for 444 days, since November 4th 1979. |
|
| February
9th |
|
In
Poland, Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigned
and was replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. |
|
| February
14th |
|
In
Australia, the Australian government withdrew its recognition
of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. |
|
| March 1st |
|
In
Northern Ireland, IRA prisoners at the Maze prison go on hunger
strike to establish their status as 'political prisoners'. The
hunger strike was led by Bobby Sands. |
|
| March 1st |
|
Bobby
Sands, an IRA member, began his hunger strike for political
status in Long Kesh prison - he died May 5th, the first of ten
men. |
|
| March 6th |
|
In
the United States, legendary journalist Walter Cronkite signed
off for the last time. Cronkite had hosted the CBS Evening News
for 19 years. |
|
| March 7th |
|
In
South America, Colombian guerillas executed US bible translator
Chester Allen Bitterman for being a CIA agent. |
|
| March 11th |
|
In Chile, President Augusto Pinochet was sworn in for an eight-year
term as the Chilean President. |
|
| March
19th |
|
At
NASA, three workers were killed and five injured during a test
of the Space Shuttle Columbia. |
|
| March 30th |
|
In
the United States, President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest
outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley. Two police
officers and James Brady were wounded. |
|
| April 11th |
|
In
Britain, riots broke ou in Brixton, South London. The rioters
looted shops and clashed with the Police with petrol bombs. |
|
April
12th - 14th |
|
In
the United States, NASA launched its first Space Shuttle, Columbia,
on mission STS-1. NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia, the world's
first reusable rocket was launched at Kennedy Space Center,
Florida and returned from space, landing at Edwards Air Force
Base two days later. |
|
| April 15th |
|
In
Australia, the Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigned
from his cabinet post, and accused the Australian Prime Minister
Fraser of gross disloyalty. |
|
| May 5th |
|
In
Northern Ireland, IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died after
going 66 days without food in protest at the Maze prison. Nine
other hunger strikers died before the IRA called off the campaign. |
|
| May 10th |
|
In
France, François Mitterrand beat Valéry Giscard
d'Estaing in the second round of the French elections and became
the new French President. |
|
| May 13th |
|
In
Italy, Pope John Paul II escaped an assassination attempt when
he was shot at and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Agca, a Turkish
gunman, as he entered St. Peter's Square in Rome. The assassin
Mehmet Ali Agca was a suspected KGB agent. |
|
| May 21st |
|
In
France, socialist François Mitterrand became President
of the Republic. |
|
| May 22nd |
|
In
Britain, the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe known as the 'Yorkshire
Ripper', was imprisoned for life for 13 counts of murder. |
|
| May 25th |
|
In
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council was created
between the Middle-Eastern oil producing countries of Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. |
|
| May 30th |
|
Bangladesh
President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in Chittagong. |
|
| June 5th |
|
In
the United States, scientists identified AIDS. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported that five homosexual
men in Los Angeles, California had a rare form of pneumonia
seen only in patients with weakened immune systems. |
|
| June 7th |
|
In
the Middle-East, the Israeli Air Force launched an air attack
and destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor. |
|
| June 13th |
|
In
London, at the Trooping the Colour ceremony at Horse Guards
Parade, Marcus Sargeant fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth
II while on her mount. |
|
| June 22nd |
|
In
Iran, the Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr was deposed. |
|
| June 29th |
|
In
the United States, Morris Edwin Robert was armed with a machine
gun and held hostages in the FBI section in Atlanta Federal
Building. After three hours the hostages were rescued and Robert
was shot. |
|
| July 17th |
|
In
Lebanon, Israeli bombers destroyed the PLO HQ in Beirut. |
|
| July 29th |
|
In
Britain, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles,
Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Pauls in
London. |
|
| July. |
|
Civil
unrest erupted in Britain. Riots started in Brixton, London,
spread to other areas of London and other major cities in Britain,
including Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Bristol. |
|
| August 1st |
|
The
television music channel MTV was launched, offering 24 hours
of music and videos. |
|
| August 5th |
|
In
the United States, President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 striking
air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return
to work. |
|
| August 19th |
|
Libyan
leader Colonel Gaddafi (Moamer al-Khaddhafi) sent two Libyan
jet fighters to intercept two US fighters over the Gulf of Sidra.
The intercepting Libyan fighters were destroyed by the American
jet fighters. |
|
| August 19th |
|
In
the United States, President Ronald Reagan appointed the first
female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor. |
|
| August 28th |
|
In
Africa, South African troops invaded neighbouring Africa state
of Angola. |
|
| August 31st |
|
In
Ramstein, West Germany, a terrorist bomb exploded at the US
Army base and injured 20 people. |
|
| September
1st |
|
Nazi
official and Adolf Hitler's architect Albert Speer died. Speer
was sentenced at Nuremberg and served 20 years imprisonment
for his involvement with the Nazis. |
|
| September
8th |
|
The
legendary Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly died. |
|
| September
18th |
|
In
France, the newly elected socialist government abolished capital
punishment in France. |
|
| October 6th |
|
Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat was assassinated during a parade by army
members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organisation,
they opposed his negotiations with Israel. |
|
| October 14th |
|
In
Egypt, following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat,
Vice President Hosni Mubarak was elected as the new President
of Egypt. |
|
| October 21st |
|
In
Greece, Andreas Papandreou became the new Prime Minister of
Greece. |
|
| November
23rd |
|
In
the United States, President Ronald Reagan signed the top secret
National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), which gave
the CIA the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in
Nicaragua. |
|
| November
30th |
|
In
Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet
Union began to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions
in Europe. |
|
| December
11th |
|
In
South America, the 'El Mozote massacre' took place in El Salvador.
900 civilians were killed by the army. |
|
| December
13th |
|
In
Poland, Polish Prime Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared
a state of martial law in Poland, in an attempt to prevent the
dismantling of the communist system by the trade union Solidarity. |
|
| December
15th |
|
In
Beirut, Lebanon, a car bomb was detonated and destroyed the
Iraqi Embassy. 61 people were killed. This was the first modern
suicide bombing and was blamed on Syrian intelligence. |
|
| December
20th |
|
In
Britain, the Penlee lifeboat disaster off the coast of South-West
Cornwall. |
|
| December
28th |
|
In
the United States, Elizabeth Jordan Carr was born the in Norfolk,
Virginia, and became the first American test-tube baby. |
|
| |
|
British
Honduras became the independent state of Belize. |
|
| |
|
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