Chronology of World History

Copyright © 2007-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
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URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2023 December 20.


1981

April 1
  • The USSR adopts daylight savings time. [5] [119]
April 2
  • Belgium's fourth government of Martens resigns. [1]
  • Heavy battle between Christian militia and Syrian army in East Lebanon. [1]
April 3
  • Race riots in London's Brixton area. [1]
April 4
  • UK pop group Bucks Fizz wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Making Your Mind Up". [119]
April 6
  • Yugoslav government sends troops to Kosovo. [1]
April 7
  • Belgium Eysken's government forms. [1]
April 9
  • US submarine George Washington rams Japanese freighter Nisso Maru. [1]
April 10
  • France performs nuclear test. [1]
  • Imprisoned Irish Republican Army hunger striker Bobby Sands elected to British Parliament (Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election). [1] [119]
April 11
  • Rioters in South London (Brixton) throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops. [1] [119]
April 12
  • Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the maiden Space Transit System-1 mission. [1] [119]
April 13
  • Pulitzer prize awarded to Beth Henley for "Crimes of the Heart". [1]
  • Washington Post's Janet Cooke wins Pulitzer Prize for "Jimmy's World" (later admits story was a hoax and returns prize). [1]
April 14
  • First Space Shuttle - Columbia 1 - returns to Earth. [1]
April 15
  • Janet Cooke says her Pulitzer award-winning 8-year-old heroin addict story is a lie; Washington Post relinquishes Pulitzer Prize on fabricated story. [1]

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  • The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty. [119]
April 18
  • The rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983). [119]
April 21
  • US furnishes US$1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. [1]
April 22
  • Almost one million West German metal workers go on strike. [1]
  • USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
  • 10,000 copper workers in Chile strike. [1]
April 24
  • US ends grain embargo against USSR. [1]
April 26
  • Largest US bank robbery (Tucson, Arizona), more than US$33 million stolen. [1]
April 27
  • Xerox introduces the Xerox 8010 Star Information System. It features graphics display, word processor, mouse, laser printer, Ethernet, and software for combining text and graphics Priced at about $16,000, the computer is not a commercial success. During its lifetime, 100,000 units are produced. [4]
April 29
  • Peter Sutcliffe admits he is the Yorkshire Ripper (murdered 13 women). [1]
May 1
  • Start of the new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds. [119]
May 6
  • US expels Libyan diplomats. [1]
  • A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the US Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries. [119]
May 7
  • The Greater London Council (England) election results in a small Labour majority. [119]
May 10
  • François Mitterrand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estang in election for President of France. [1] [119]
  • In Italy a popular referendum rejects the abrogation of the law allowing abortion. [119]
May 11
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber/TS Eliot's musical Cats premieres in London. [1]
May 13
  • Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded while passing through Saint Peter's Square in Rome, in an open car. Four shots are fired by Mehmet Ali Agca, two striking the Pope, the other two wounding American Ann Odre and Jamaican Rose Hill. [1] [119] [129]
May 15
  • Soyuz 40 carries two cosmonauts (one Rumanian) to Salyut 6. [1]
  • 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. [119]
May 21
  • In France, Socialist François Mitterrand becomes President. [1] [119]
May 22
  • Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper. He is sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and seven of attempted murder. [119]
May 23
  • Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage. [1]
May 24
  • Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona, Spain. [1]
  • Jaime Roldós Aguilera, President of Ecuador, dies in air plane crash. [1] [240.114]
May 25
  • In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. [119]
May 26
  • Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14. [1]
  • The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due. [119]
May 27
  • USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
May 28
  • Stefan Wyszynski, Polish Cardinal, dies. [1]
May 30
  • Ziaur Rahmen, President of Bangladesh, is assassinated by a group of rebel officers. [1] [119]
June 3
  • Pope John Paul II released from hospital after attempt on life. [1]
June 5
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five 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). [1] [119]
June 6
  • Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India; about 800 die. [119]
June 7
  • The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. [1] [119]
June 10
  • Irish Republican Army's Joseph Doherty escapes from Crumlin Road Jail. [1]
June 11
  • In Southern Iran, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. Three thousand people killed, many injured, and extensive damage in Kerman Province. [53]
June 12
  • Paramount releases the film Raiders of the Lost Ark to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $390 million (1st for 1981).) [954]
June 13
  • At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. [1] [119]
  • In Salem, Oregon, USA a building is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
June 19
  • European Space Agency's Ariane carries two satellites into orbit. [1]
  • India's APPLE satellite, first to be stabilized on three axes, launched. [1]
June 21
  • 12-bottle case of 1979 Napamedoc Cabernet wine sells at auction for US$24,000. [1]
June 22
  • Two Habash terrorists attack a travel agency in Greece killing two. [1]
  • Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed. [119]
June 23
  • Amanda Maccaro becomes first American to win Russian Ballet Competition. [1]
June 24
  • The Humber Bridge, the world's longest single-span suspension bridge (for the next 17 years), opens, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. [5]
June 26
  • Couples For Christ, a Christian charismatic organization, is established in the Philippines. [119]

End of 1981 April-June. Next: 1981 July.

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start-302 303-599 600-799 800-999 1000-1099 1100-1199 1200-1299 1300-1401 1402-1449 1450-1474
1475-1499 1500-1524 1525-1539 1540-1559 1560-1574 1575-1599 1600-1619 1620-1629 1630-1639 1640-1649
1650-1659 1660-1669 1670-1679 1680-1689 1690-1699 1700-1708 1709-1719 1720-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759
1760-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1794 1795-1799 1800-1804 1805-1809 1810-1814
1815-1819 1820-1824 1825-1829 1830-1834 1835-1836 1837-1839 1840-1844 1845-1847 1848-1849 1850-1852
1853-1854 1855-1859 1860-1861 1862-1864 1865-1867 1868-1869 1870-1871 1872-1874 1875-1877 1878-1879
1880-1882 1883-1884 1885-1887 1888-1889 1890-1892 1893-1894 1895 1896-1897 1898-1899 1900-1901
1902 1903-1904 1905 1906-1907 1908-1909 1910-1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022-end


A list of references to all source material is available.


Last updated: 2023 December 20.
Copyright © 2007-2024 Ken Polsson (email: ken@kpolsson.com).
URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/
Link to Ken P's home page.

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