What Happened in 1981 — Events, Births & Deaths

Greece is admitted into the European Community.

One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".

Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments.

Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.

President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.

Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).

Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.

The Underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred when Trevor Chappell bowls underarm on the final delivery of a game between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Operation Soap: The Metropolitan Toronto Police Force raids four gay bathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, arresting just under 300, triggering mass protest and rallies.

The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.

A plane crash at Pushkin Airport kills 50 people, including 16 members of the Pacific Fleet.

A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

The 6.7 Ms Gulf of Corinth earthquake affects Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people are killed, 400 are injured, and damage totals $812 million.

Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.

The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 11⁄2 million units around the world.

Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.

Social Democratic Party (UK) is founded as a party.

The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.

The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.

Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.

Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He died twenty-six days later.

A massive riot in Brixton, south London, results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.

The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.

STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia, completes its first test flight.

More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.

Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital (Northern Ireland) after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.

Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.

The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.

Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate.

Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.

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

Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).

An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.

The first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters.

At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.

US President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.

The Humber Bridge opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It remained the world's longest bridge span for 17 years.

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.

Dan-Air Flight 240, flying to East Midlands Airport, crashes in Nailstone, Leicestershire. All three crew members perish.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong.

A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of the Islamic Republican Party.

US President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.

A Canadair CL-44 and Sukhoi Su-15 collide in mid-air near Yerevan, Armenia, killing four.

In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.

Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.

The first game of the 1981 South Africa rugby union tour of New Zealand and the United States is held in Gisborne, New Zealand.

While landing at Chihuahua International Airport, Aeromexico Flight 230 overshoots the runway. Thirty-two of the 66 passengers and crew on board the DC-9 are killed.

A worldwide television audience of around 750 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland.

MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.

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

The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.

Murder of Adam Walsh: The head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The IBM Personal Computer is released.

Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.

Silvio Santos launches a new Brazilian television channel in São Paulo, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão.

Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes in Sanyi Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. All 110 people on board are killed.

Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.

Aeropesca Flight 221 crashes in Colombia's Huila Department, killing all 50 people on board.

President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing. The office of Iran's Prosecutor General blames the People's Mujahedin of Iran.

Central African President David Dacko is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations.

The first women arrive at what becomes Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in the UK.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.

Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.

Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.

During a military exercise, a Turkish Air Force Northrop F-5 crashes in Babaeski as a result of pilot error, killing one crew member and also 65 soldiers on the ground.

Belize joins the United Nations.

An Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashes into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran, killing 80 people.

The hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland ends after seven months and ten deaths.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is murdered by Islamic extremists.

NLM CityHopper Flight 431 crashes in Moerdijk after taking off from Rotterdam The Hague Airport in the Netherlands, killing all 17 people on board.

President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France.

Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

Two police officers and a Brink's armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground in Nanuet, New York.

Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.

The US Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for its strike the previous August.

Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.

Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom.

Aeroméxico Flight 110 crashes near Zihuatanejo, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board.

Antigua and Barbuda joins the United Nations.

Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.

Aeroflot Flight 3603 crashes during landing at Norilsk Airport, killing 99.

Iran–Contra affair: 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.

Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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 end inconclusively on December 17.)

Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.

South Africa grants independence to the Ciskei "homeland" (not recognized by any government outside South Africa).

El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.

General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.

Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.

A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.

American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.

First flight of the Russian heavy strategic bomber Tu-160, the world's largest combat aircraft, largest supersonic aircraft and largest variable-sweep wing aircraft built.

Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.

A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player and sportscaster

Tony Woodcock, New Zealand rugby player

Jason Kapono, American basketball player

Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist

Kevin Dallman, Canadian-Kazakhstani ice hockey player

Kertus Davis, American race car driver

Steve Cummings, English cyclist

Jasmine Crockett, American attorney and politician

Megan Hilty, American actress and singer

PJ Morton, American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer

Jlloyd Samuel, Trinidadian footballer (died 2018)

Audrey Tang, Taiwanese Minister of Digital Affairs and programmer

Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor

Lise Klaveness, Norwegian footballer and lawyer, president of the Norwegian Football Federation

Troy Polamalu, American football player

Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer

Ruth Negga, Ethiopian-Irish actress

Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician

Stephen Amell, Canadian actor

Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer

Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer

Rami Malek, American actor

Anthony Ervin, American swimmer

Jason Manford, English actor, screenwriter, and television host

Ben Zobrist, American baseball player

Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer

Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer

Larisa Oleynik, American actress

Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author (died 2019)

Sara Watkins, American fiddle, ukulele, and guitar player

Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper

Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player

Roman Shirokov, Russian footballer

Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player

Lee Chun-soo, South Korean footballer

Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan runner

Marques Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

Leslie Odom Jr., American actor and singer

Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater

Martin Erat, Czech ice hockey player

Geneviève Jeanson, Canadian cyclist

Charles Kelley, American singer and musician

Dylan Klebold, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (died 1999)

Michael Sukkar, Australian politician

Ben Schwartz, American actor, comedian and writer

Elke Hanel-Torsch, Austrian politician

Lasse Kukkonen, Finnish ice hockey player

Kelly McCreary, American actress

Suzanne Shaw, English actress and singer

Luke Wilkshire, Australian footballer

Monica Iozzi, Brazilian actress

Katharine Isabelle, Canadian actress

Mitchell Johnson, Australian cricketer

Eyedea, American rapper and producer (died 2010)

Jobi McAnuff, Jamaican footballer

Kane Waselenchuk, Canadian racquetball player

Ryan Bertin, American wrestler and coach

Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer

Lee Bum-ho, South Korean baseball player

Barbara Pierce Bush, American activist

Jenna Bush Hager, American journalist

Jared Jeffries, American basketball player

Rebekkah Brunson, American basketball player and coach

Jason Kennedy, American journalist

Jeff McComsey, American author and illustrator

Eddie Kingston, American wrestler

Marta Fernández, Spanish basketball player

Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer

Trenesha Biggers, American wrestler and model

Camille Herron, American ultramarathon runner

Christian Holst, Danish-Faroese footballer

Willy Taveras, Dominican baseball player

Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer

Jack Northrop, American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (born 1895)