1981

Events

January-February

• 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 - Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter as President of the United States of America
• January 20 - Minutes after Ronald Reagan becomes president, Iran releases 52 American hostages that had been held captive for 444 days
• 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 bestseller The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet

March-April

• 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., whose family had connections with the vice president. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded.
• April 12 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.

May-June

• 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 21 - In France, socialist François Mitterrand becomes president of the Republic.
• May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman assassinated in Chittagong.
• June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California are have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were the first recognized cases of AIDS).
• June 7 - Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor
• June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II .

July-October

• 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 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.
• 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 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981). Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sends two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two US fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroyed the Libyan fighters.
• October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, who opposed his negotiations with Israel
• 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-December

• November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
• 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 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 December 17).
• 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 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).

unknown dates

• 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
• IBM PC released

Year in topic

• 1981 in film
  • June 12 - Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford
  • Chariots of Fire
  • On Golden Pond
• 1981 in literature
• 1981 in music
  • Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" is the first recording to use scratching
• 1981 in theatre
  • May 11 - the first performance of the history-making musical, Cats.
• 1981 in sports
  • January 25 - Super Bowl XV Oakland Raiders (27) def. Philadelphia Eagles (10)
  • July 24-August 2 - First World Games held in Santa Clara, California
  • August 21 - Salvador Sanchez defeats Wilfredo Gomez by a knockout in 8 to retain his WBC world Featherweight boxing title in Las Vegas.
  • September 16 - Sugar Ray Leonard knocks out Thomas Hearns in round 14, in Las Vegas, to unify the world's Welterweight boxing championship.
  • September 26 - Australian Rules Football: Victorian Football League Grand Final, Carlton Blues 12.20 (92) def Collingwood Magpies 10.12 (72)
• 1981 in television
  • January 20 - Comedian Andy Kaufman ruins sketches and starts a brawl live on the air during ABC's Fridays.
  • August 1 - MTV debuts on Cable television, playing music videos 24 hours a day
  • Luke and Lauras's Wedding on General Hospital, becomes the most watched wedding in television history, other than the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
• 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 prior project.
• Commodore VIC-20, Sinclair ZX81, and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A launched, helping to start the 1980s home computing phenomenon.

Births

• January 3 - Polly Klaas, young victim of crime (d. 1993)
• January 4 - Alicia Keys, musician
• January 15 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese football star
• January 21 - Dany Heatley, NHL hockey player
• January 28 - Elijah Wood, actor
• February 11 - Kelly Rowland, singer ("Destiny's Child")
• February 18 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian NBA star
• February 24 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
• March 11 - David Anders, actor
• April 9 - Eric Harris, perpetrator of the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
• April 28 - Jessica Alba, actress
• May 13 - Sunny Leone, adult entertainer
• May 15 - Jamie-Lynn DiScala, actress
• June 1 - Carlos Zambrano, baseball pitcher
• June 7 - Anna Kournikova, tennis player
• July 8 - Anastasia Myskina, tennis player
• August 5 - Rachel Scott, victim of the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
• August 8 - Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer/songwriter
• August 8 - Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
• September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, singer
• September 9 - Dylan Klebold, perpetrator of the Columbine High School massacre (died 1999)
• September 22 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player
• September 26 - Serena Williams, tennis player
• October 15 - Elena Dementieva, tennis player
• November 25 - Barbara and Jenna Bush, daughters of President George W. Bush
• November 28 - Huy Ton That, Philosopher Visionary born
• December 2 - Britney Spears, singer
• December 13 - Amy Lee, Evanescence frontwoman
• December 21 - Shizuka Arakawa, figure skating champion
• December 27 - Yuvraj Singh, India

Deaths

• January 3- Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany, the last grandchild of Queen Victoria
• January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, philosopher, poet and non-violent activist
• January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Novelist
• January 10 - Katherine Alexander, actress
• January 23 - Samuel Barber, Composer
• February 9 - Bill Haley, Musician
• February 26 - Howard Hanson, composer
• March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist
• April 7 - Norman Taurog, director
• April 27 - John Aspinwall Roosevelt, businessman, philanthropist
• May 7 - Eddit Rabbitt, musician
• May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican roots rock reggae singer and musician
• May 18 - William Saroyan, author
• June 1 - Carl Vinson, United States Congressman (b. 1883)
• 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 7 - Will Durant, American philosopher and writer.
• November 22 - Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, German medical doctor and biochemist
• November 29 - Natalie Wood, actress (accidental drowning
• 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