1981

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Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years:	1978 1979 1980 - 1981 - 1982 1983 1984

1981 by topic:
Subject: Archaeology - Architecture - Art
Aviation - Film - Home video - Literature Meteorology - Music (Country, Metal) Rail transport - Radio - Science
Sports - Television - Video gaming
Countries: Australia - Canada - India - Ireland
Malaysia - New Zealand - Pakistan - Singapore - South Africa - Soviet Union - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe
Leaders: Sovereign states - State leaders
Religious leaders - Law
Categories: Births - Deaths - Awards - Works
Establishments - Disestablishments v • d • e

Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar).

Contents (full)

1 Events of 1981

- Jan. ^. Feb. ^. March ^. April

- May ^. June ^. July ^. Aug.

- Sept. ^. Oct. ^. Nov. ^. Dec.

- Undated ^. Ongoing ^. Fictional

2 Births

3 Deaths

4 Nobel prizes - Templeton Prize

5 See also - Notes - External links

[edit] Events of 1981

[edit] January

January - The subterranean Sarawak chamber is discovered in Borneo.
January 1 - Greece enters the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.

January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing.
January 4 - Sheffield police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
January 5 - Margaret Thatcher carried out a Cabinet reshuffle, sacking Norman St. John-Stevas.
January 7 - Snow in Palermo and Sicily.
January 13 - Donna Griffiths, a schoolgirl in Pershore, Worcestershire, UK, begins an uncontrollable series of sneezes that end September 16, 1983 - after 978 days.
January 16 - Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband.

January 20: Iran releases hostages.

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, becoming the 40th President of the United States. Minutes later, Iran releases 52 Americans held 444 days.
January 21 - The first De Lorean DMC-12 automobile, a stainless steel sportscar with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.
January 22 - Fowzi Nejad, sole survivor of the terrorists from the Iranian Embassy siege in London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter of two hostages and was jailed for life.
January 24 - The British Labour Party special conference at Wembley decides that leadership elections should be by electoral college.
January 25 - Four former Labour cabinet ministers (Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, William Rodgers and David Owen) announce the formation of the Council for Social Democracy.
January 25 - Chiang Ching ('Madame Mao') was sentenced to death in China.
January 25 - The Oakland Raiders win Super Bowl XV, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

[edit] February

February 24: A powerful earthquake hits Athens.

February 4 - Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the Prime Minister of Norway.
February 8 - nineteen fans of Olympiacos FC and two fans of AEK Athens died and 54 injured after a stampede at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Pireus, possibly because Gate 7 did not open immediately after the end of the game.
February 9 - Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills 8 and injures 198.
February 13 - Rupert Murdoch buys The Times and The Sunday Times for £12 million.
February 14 - Stardust Disaster: A Fire at the Stardust Nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland in the early hours killed 48 and injured 214
February 14 - Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
February 23 - Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup d'état fails thanks to King Juan Carlos.
February 24 - A powerful, magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Athens, killing 16 people, injuring thousands and destroying several buildings, mostly in Corinth and the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylokastro.

[edit] March

March 1 - Bobby Sands, an Irish Republican Army member, begins a hunger strike for political status in Long Kesh prison (he dies May 5, the first of 10 men).
March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
March 10 - Sir Geoffrey Howe announces the British budget, which raises taxes in the middle of a recession.
March 11 - Chilean President Augusto Pinochet is sworn in for another 8-year term.
March 17 - In Italy the Propagande Due Masonic Lodge is discovered.
March 19 - Three workers are killed and 5 injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
March 26 - The British Social Democratic Party was launched at the Connaught Rooms in London.
March 29 - The first London Marathon starts with 7,500 runners.
March 30 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.

[edit] April

April 12: First STS launch: Columbia.

April 1 - Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR.
April 2 - Tony Benn announces that he will challenge Denis Healey for the Deputy Leadership of the British Labour Party.
April 4 - Bucks Fizz wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song, Making Your Mind Up.
April 10 - IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands wins the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election.
April 11 - Brixton riot (1981): Rioters in South London throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
April 12 - The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
April 15 - The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty.
April 18 - A Minor League baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).

April 18 - The rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983).

April 24 - French presidential election: A first-round runoff results between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand.

[edit] May

May - Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon Basin.
May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
May 7 - The Greater London Council election results in a small Labour majority. On May 8, Ken Livingstone becomes Leader of the Council.
May 10 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France, François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
May 10 - In Italy a popular referendum rejects the abrogation of the law allowing abortion.
May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience (2 days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul goes to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin).
May 15 - Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith - the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States.
May 21 - In France, Socialist François Mitterrand becomes President.
May 22 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is imprisoned for life for 13 counts of murder.
May 24 - Indianapolis 500: Bobby Unser wins for a third time for both he as a driver and Roger Penske as a car owner, but the race sanctioning-body USAC temporarily strips him of victory over an accusation of illegally passing other cars under a caution period (see racing flags). After the team's appeal, Unser's win is reinstated on October 8.
May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
May 26 - The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.
May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.

[edit] June

June 7: Osirak nuclear reactor.

June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (the first recognized cases of AIDS).
June 6 - Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India; about 800 die.
June 7 - The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
June 12 - Major League Baseball goes on strike, forcing the cancellation of 38 percent of the schedule.
June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
June 21 - Wayne Williams, a 23-year-old African American, is arrested and charged with the murders of 2 other African Americans. He will later be suspected of 28 others, in the Atlanta child murders.
June 22 - Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.
June 29 - Morris Edwin Robert, armed with a machine gun, holds hostages in the FBI section at the Atlanta, Georgia Federal Building. After 3 hours the hostages are rescued and Robert is shot (dead?).

[edit] July

July 29: The newlywed Prince & Princess of Wales return to Buckingham Palace after wedding watched by over 1 billion people.

July 2 - The Wonderland Gang was brutally murdered in a massacre that involved Eddie Nash.
July 8 - California Governor Jerry Brown, faced with a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation, chooses to delay the aerial spraying of malathion, in favor of continuing ground-based eradication efforts.
July 10 - Mahathir bin Mohamad became the 4th prime minister of Malaysia.
July 17 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.
July 17 - Israeli bombers destroy the PLO headquarters in Beirut.
July 19 - The 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of Apartheid.
July 27 - The Wheel of Fortune TV show premiers in Australia on the Seven Network.

July 29 - Fernando Alonso Diaz Spanish Two Time Formula 1 World Champion is born.
July 29 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.

[edit] August

August 1 - MTV (Music Television) is launched.
August 3 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) goes on strike.
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 9 - Major League Baseball resumes from strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
August 12 - The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
August 19 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981): Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends 2 Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept 2 U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
August 19 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
August 19 - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, aka the pop duo Pet Shop Boys, meet for the first time by chance in an electronics shop in Chelsea, London.
August 24 - Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment for the murder of John Lennon.
August 28 - South African troops invade Angola.
August 31 - A bomb explodes at the U.S. Army base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people.

[edit] September

September 4 - An explosion at a mine in Zalizin, Czechoslovakia, kills 65.
September 10 - Picasso's painting "Guernica" is moved from New York to Madrid.
September 14 - Margaret Thatcher appoints Cecil Parkinson as Chairman of the Conservative Party.
September 15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC.
September 16 - In Britain, the Liberal Party Assembly votes for an electoral pact with the new Social Democratic Party.
September 18 - France abolishes capital punishment.
September 19 - The second Wranslide occurs in New South Wales, with the Wran government re-elected for a third term with an increased majority, and reducing the Liberal Party of Australia to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly.
September 19 - Simon and Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York in front of approximately a half a million people.
September 20 - Belize became independent.
September 21 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
September 26 - First flight of the Boeing 767 airliner.
September 27 - TGV high speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France begins.
September 27 - Denis Healey retained the post of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, beating Tony Benn by 50.426% to 49.574%.

[edit] October

[[Image:sadat6.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[October 6]: Anwar Sadat is assassinated.]]

October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.
October 10 - The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.
October 10 - A Provisional IRA bomb at Chelsea Barracks in London kills a woman pensioner.
October 13 - James Tobin wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt 1 week after Anwar Sadat's assassination.
October 15 - The heavy metal band Metallica forms.
October 21 - Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
October 22 - The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D.P. Singh begins.
October 22 - Liberal candidate Bill Pitt wins the Croydon North West byelection, the first election win by the Liberal-S.D.P. Alliance.
October 26 - An IRA bomb in a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street, London, kills a bomb disposal expert.
October 27 - A Soviet submarine runs aground oustide the Karlskrona, Sweden military base.

[edit] November

November 1: Flag of Antigua & Barbuda.

November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
November 9 - Edict No 81-234 abolishes slavery in Mauritania.
November 12 - STS-2: Space Shuttle Columbia, piloted by Joe Engle and Richard Truly, lifts off for its second mission.
November 12 - The Church of England General Synod voted to admit women to holy orders.
November 13 - The first Friday the 13th event is held by motorcyclists in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada.
November 16 - Luke and Laura marry on the U.S. soap opera General Hospital; it is the highest-rated hour in daytime television history.
November 18 - COMDEX Fall, IBM Introduced the IBM PC. Scientific Solutions announces the first PC add-in cards.
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 25-November 26 - A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; 6 are later arrested.
November 26 - Former cabinet minister Shirley Williams won the Crosby by-election, becoming the first elected S.D.P. MP.
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 end inconclusively on Thursday, December 17).

[edit] December

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 5 - American general James Lee Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by Italian Red Brigades.
December 8 - The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13.
December 8 - Arthur Scargill became President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers.
December 9 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop of a vehicle driven by William Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's younger brother.
December 11 - El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.
December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people. Syrian intelligence is blamed.
December 20 - The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurs off the coast of South-West Cornwall.
December 28 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.

[edit] Undated

Millennium Renactment of the translation of Saint Edward the Martyr's relics from Wareham to Shaftesbury.
Public funding of election Campaigns introduced in New South Wales, Australia.
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 priority project.
Cuba suffers a major outbreak of Dengue fever, with 344,203 cases. [1]
Luxor AB Presents the ABC 800 computer.

[edit] Ongoing

Cold War.

[edit] Fictional

The events about 1981 in popular fiction are: (unknown).

[edit] Births

**1981 in other calendars**
Gregorian calendar	1981 MCMLXXXI
Ab urbe condita	2734
Armenian calendar	1430 ԹՎ ՌՆԼ
Bahá'í calendar	137 – 138
Buddhist calendar	2525
Chinese calendar	4617/4677-11-26 (庚申年十一月廿六日) — to — 4618/4678-12-6 (辛酉年十二月初六日)
Coptic calendar	1697 – 1698
Ethiopian calendar	1973 – 1974
Hebrew calendar	5741 – 5742
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2036 – 2037
- Shaka Samvat	1903 – 1904
- Kali Yuga	5082 – 5083
Holocene calendar	11981
Iranian calendar	1359 – 1360
Islamic calendar	1401 – 1402
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 56 (昭和56年)
- Imperial Year	Kōki 2641 (皇紀2641年)
- Jōmon Era	11981
Julian calendar	2026
Korean calendar	4314
Thai solar calendar	2524
v • d • e

[edit] January-February

January 1 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
January 1 - Eden Riegel, American actress
January 3 - Eli Manning, American football player
January 6 - Mike Jones, American rapper
January 6 - Jérémie Renier, Belgian actor
January 7 - Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
January 8 - Genevieve Cortese, American actress
January 8 - Jeff Francis, Canadian pitcher
January 9 - Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer
January 11 - Jamelia, British singer
January 12 - Quentin Griffin, American football player
January 15 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
January 15 - Howie Day, American singer and songwriter
January 17 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
January 20 - Jason Richardson, American basketball player
January 20 - Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born footballer
January 21 - Dany Heatley, German-born hockey player
January 22 - Chantelle Anderson, American basketball player
January 22 - Willa Ford, American singer, television hostess, and actress
January 22 - Beverley Mitchell, American actress
January 22 - Ben Moody, American guitarist (formerly of Evanescence)
January 24 - Brandon Henschel, American actor and dancer
January 28 - Elijah Wood, American actor and music producer
January 29 - Jonny Lang, American musician
January 31 - Justin Timberlake, American musician

February 3 - Alisa Reyes, American actress
February 4 - Matthieu Delpierre, French football player
February 10 - The Reverend Tholomew Plague, American drummer (Avenged Sevenfold)
February 10 - Natasha St-Pier, Canadian singer
February 11 - Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child)
February 14 - Erin Torpey, American actress
February 15 - Jenna Morasca, American television personality
February 16 - Lupe Fiasco, American hip-hop artist
February 17 - Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite
February 18 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
February 18 - Ivan Sproule, Irish footballer
February 19 - Vitas, Russian singer
February 20 - Chris Thile, American mandolinist
February 20 - Majandra Delfino, American actress
February 22 - Jeanette Biedermann, German singer and actress
February 24 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
February 27 - Josh Groban, American singer

[edit] March-April

March 1 - Ana Hickmann, Brazilian model
March 1 - Adam LaVorgna, American actor
March 1 - Brad Winchester, American ice hockey player
March 2 - Bryce Howard, American actress
March 3 - Lil' Flip, American rapper
March 4 - Carol Banawa, Filipina singer and celebrity
March 6 - Ellen Muth, American actress
March 9 - Antonio Bryant, American football player
March 10 - Kristen Maloney, American gymnast
March 11 - David Anders, American actor
March 11 - Lee Evans, American football player
March 11 - LeToya Luckett, American singer (Destiny's Child)
March 15 - Young Buck, American rapper
March 16 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
March 19 - Kolo Touré, Ivorian football player
March 27 - Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
March 28 - Lindsay Frimodt, American model
March 28 - Julia Stiles, American actress

April 1 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer (S Club 7)
April 2 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress and singer
April 3 - Arfius Arf, British artist
April 8 - Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
April 9 - Milan Bartovič, Slovak hockey player
April 9 - Eric Harris, American murderer at Columbine High School (d. 1999)
April 9 - Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
April 10 - Gretchen Bleiler, American snowboarder
April 10 - Liz McClarnon, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
April 10 - Michael Pitt, American actor
April 11 - Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
April 15 - Seth Wulsin, artist
April 17 - Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer
April 18 - Jang Nara, Korean actress and singer
April 18 - Audrey Tang, Taiwanese software programmer
April 19 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
April 19 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
April 19 - Troy Polamalu, American football player
April 20 - Matus Valent, fitness model
April 21 - Mike Christie, English musician (G4)
April 21 - Stephanie Larimore, American model
April 22 - Ken Dorsey, American football player
April 28 - Jessica Alba, American actress
April 29 - George McCartney, Irish footballer

[edit] May-June

May 1 - Alexander Hleb, Belarusian football player
May 3 - Farrah Franklin, American singer (formerly of Destiny's Child)
May 4 - Jacques Rudolph, South African cricketer
May 5 - Craig David, British singer
May 5 - Danielle Fishel, American actress
May 11 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
May 12 - Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
May 13 - Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
May 13 - Sunny Leone, Canadian entertainer
May 13 - Jimmy Wang Yang, Japanese professional wrestler
May 15 - Zara Phillips, British elite equestrienne
May 15 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
May 15 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
May 17 - R.J. Helton, American singer
May 19 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
May 19 - Nate Cole, American singer/songwriter (formerly of Plus One)
May 20 - Sean Conlon, English musician (5ive)
May 20 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
May 22 - Melissa Gregory, American figure skater
May 26 - Isaac Slade, Singer/pianist of The Fray
May 27 - Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina

June 1 - Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
June 3 - Mike Adam, Canadian curler
June 5 - Jade Goody, British reality show star
June 6 - Johnny Pacar, American actor
June 7 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
June 7 - Larisa Oleynik, American actress
June 8 - Alex Band, American musician
June 8 - Sara Watkins, American violinist
June 8 - Ai Nonaka, Japanese voice actress
June 9 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
June 9 - Celina Jaitley, Indian actress
June 9 - Vic Zhou, Taiwanese actor, singer, and model
June 10 - Hoku Ho, Hawaiian singer and musician
June 10 - Burton O'Brien, Scottish footballer
June 12 - Adriana Lima, Brazilian model
June 13 - Christopher Robert Evans, American actor
June 14 - Lonneke Engel, Dutch model
June 16 - Ben Kweller, American musician
June 18 - Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (d. 1987)
June 20 - Alisan Porter, American actress and singer
June 21 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)

[edit] July-August

July 2 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American activist
July 2 - Paul Anthony Finn, Irish singer and songwriter (The Flaws)
July 6 - Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player
July 7 - Synyster Gates, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
July 8 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
July 8 - Ashley Blue, American pornographic actress
July 19 - Didz Hammond, bassist/backing vocalist (Dirty Pretty Things and The Cooper Temple Clause)
July 20 - Dayang Nurfaizah, Malaysian singer
July 21 - Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
July 21 - Blake Lewis, American Idol finalist
July 23 - Steve Jocz, Canadian drummer (Sum 41)
July 24 - Summer Glau, American actress (Firefly)
July 25 - Jani Rita, Finnish ice hockey player
July 29 - Fernando Alonso, Spanish Two Time Formula 1 World Champion
July 31 - M. Shadows, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)

August 4 - Marques Houston, American singer and actor
August 5 - Carl Crawford, baseball player
August 5 - Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
August 5 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer and actress
August 8 - Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
August 8 - Harel Skaat, Israeli singer
August 8 - Meagan Good, American actress
August 8 - Kaori Iida, Japanese singer and actress
August 10 - Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress
August 11 - Sandi Thom, Scottish singer & song writer
August 12 - Djibril Cissé, French footballer
August 14 - Benjamin Williams, professional poker player
August 16 - Taylor Rain, American actress
August 24 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
August 25 - Rachel Bilson, American actress
August 29 - Lanny Barbie, American actress
August 30 - Brian J. Robinson, Canadian musician (A Wilhelm Scream)

[edit] September-October

September 1 - Clinton Portis, American football player
September 1 - Michael Adamthwaite, Canadian voice actor
September 2 - Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
September 3 - Fearne Cotton, British television presenter
September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, American actress and singer (Destiny's Child)
September 4 - Lacey Mosley, American lead vocalist (Flyleaf)
September 8 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
September 11 - Dylan Klebold, American murderer (d. 1999)
September 12 - Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
September 14 - Ashley Roberts, singer The Pussycat Dolls
September 14 - Miyavi, Japanese singer and musician
September 16 - Alexis Bledel, American actress
September 21 - Nicole Richie, American actress, singer and socialite
September 22 - Ashley Drane, American actress
September 23 - Misti Traya, American actress
September 23 - Natalie Horler, German singer Cascada
September 23 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
September 25 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player
September 26 - Serena Williams, American tennis player
September 30 - Cecelia Ahern, Irish author and daughter of current Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
September 30 - Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast

October 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimović, Swedish footballer
October 3 - Amanda Walsh, Canadian actress
October 5 - Enrico Fabris, Italian speed skater
October 8 - Raffi Torres, Canadian ice hockey player
October 9 - Peter Hill, British photographer
October 9 - Zachery Ty Bryan, American actor
October 11 - Beau Brady, Australian actor
October 13 - Vernon Carey, American football player
October 13 - Ryan Ashford, English footballer
October 14 - Akon, Senegalese singer
October 15 - Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
October 20 - Willis McGahee, American football player
October 22 - Michael Fishman, American actor
October 23 - Olivier Occean, Canadian footballer
October 25 - Shaun Wright-Phillips, English footballer
October 26 - Guy Sebastian, original Australian Idol 2003 singer
October 28 - Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
October 28 - Dwayne Cameron, New Zealand actor
October 29 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer
October 30 - Ivanka Trump, American model
October 31 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
October 31 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)

[edit] November-December

November 1 - LaTavia Roberson, American singer (Destiny's Child)
November 2 - Tatiana Totmianina, Russian figure skater
November 3 - Blair Chenoweth, American beauty queen
November 3 - Jackie Gayda, American professional wrestler
November 4 - Vince Wilfork, American football player
November 6 - Cassie Bernall, American murder victim (d. 1999)
November 8 - Joe Cole, English footballer
November 8 - Azura Skye, American actress
November 10 - Tony Blanco, Dominican baseball player
November 10 - Jason Dunham, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2004)
November 10 - Alison Waite, American model
November 11 - Natalie Glebova, Canadian beauty queen
November 11 - Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
November 13 - Mark Cardona, Filipino basketball player
November 15 - Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
November 17 - Sarah Harding, British singer (Girls Aloud)
November 18 - Gian Magdangal, Filipino singer and actor
November 20 - Kimberley Walsh, British singer (Girls Aloud)
November 21 - Bryant McFadden, American football player
November 22 - Seweryn Gancarczyk, Polish footballer
November 25 - Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
November 26 - Natasha Bedingfield, British singer
November 26 - Aurora Snow, American actress
November 29 - Tom Hurndall, British photographer (d. 2004)
December 2 - Britney Spears, American singer
December 3 - Brian Bonsall, American actor
December 4 - Lila McCann, American singer
December 7 - Ben Adams, British singer (a1)
December 9 - Dia Mirza, Bollywood actress
December 9 - Jacob Stewart, St. Thomas based songwriter/guitarist
December 11 - Zacky Vengeance, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
December 12 - Spencer Johnson, NFL player
December 13 - Amy Lee, American singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
December 14 - Amber Chia, Malaysian model and actress
December 15 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)
December 15 - Donal Coonan, UK presenter for Channel 4's webshow thisisaknife
December 16 - Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer

December 21 - Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
December 24 - Dima Bilan, Russian pop-singer
December 27 - Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
December 27 - Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
December 28 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, first American test-tube baby
December 28 - Sienna Miller, American-born actress
December 28 - Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
December 29 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
December 29 - Angela Via, American singer
December 30 - Haley Paige, American actress

[edit] Deaths

[edit] January-March

January 5 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet, and activist (b. 1901)
January 6 - A.J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
January 10 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
January 23 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
January 31 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
February 1 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
February 9 - Bill Haley, American musician (b. 1925)
February 15 - Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
February 18 - John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)
February 20 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)
February 26 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
February 27 - Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (b. 1920)
March 6 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
March 7 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
March 23 - Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)
March 30 - DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (b. 1889)
March 31 - Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)

[edit] April-June

April 3 - Juan Trippe, Airline entrepreneur and pioneer, Pan Am founder (b. 1899)
April 5 - Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
April 7 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
April 12 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
April 18 - James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)
April 27 - John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)

May 5 - Bobby Sands, Irish republican (hunger strike) (b. 1954)
May 9 - Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)
May 9 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)
May 11 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
May 18 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
May 30 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
June 1 - Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (b. 1883)
June 2 - Rino Gaetano, Italian singer-songwriter
June 9 - Allen Ludden, American television game show host (b. 1917)
June 10 - Jenny Maxwell, American actress (b. 1941)
June 17 - Sir Richard O'Connor, English general (b. 1889)
June 17 - Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (b. 1889)
June 18 - Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (b. 1912)
June 19 - Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (b. 1899)
June 23 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
June 28 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)

[edit] July-September

July 8 - Joe McDonnell, Irish political prisoner (after 61 days of hunger strike) (b. 1951)
July 16 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
July 27 - Adam Walsh, American murder victim, inspired Code Adam (b. 1974)
July 27 - William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902)
July 29 - Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
August 14 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
August 30 - Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (b. 1921)

September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (b. 1905)
September 2 - Enid Lyons, Australia politician (b. 1897)
September 8 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
September 9 - Sir Robert (Bob) Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
September 12 - Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
September 15 - Rafael Méndez, Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso (b. 1906)
September 28 - Sir Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, British Conservative cabinet minister (b. 1923)
September 29 - Bill Shankly, British football manager (b. 1914)

[edit] October-December

October 2 - Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
October 6 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1918)
October 16 - Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)
October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
October 29 - Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)

November 7 - Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)
November 14 - Robert Bradford, Northern Irish footballer and politician (assassinated) (b. 1941)
November 16 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
November 22 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
November 25 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)
November 29 - Natalie Wood, American actress (drowned) (b. 1938)
December 3 - Walter Knott, American farmer and theme park creator (b. 1889)
December 15 - Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909)
December 23 - Reginald Miles Ansett, Australian businessman and aviator (b. 1909)
December 27 - Hoagy Carmichael, American jazz composer (b. 1899)
December 28 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)

[edit] Nobel prizes

[edit] Templeton Prize

Dame Cicely Saunders

[edit] See also

20th century

[edit] Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

1981

[edit] External links

[edit] Table of Contents

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981"

Category: 1981

January
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

February
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28

March
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

April
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

May
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

June
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

July
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

August
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

September
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

October
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

November
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

December
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31