Events
January
*
January 1
**
Greece enters the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
, predecessor of the
European Union.
**
Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
*
January 10
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
* 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...
–
Salvadoran Civil War: The
FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of
Morazán and
Chalatenango departments.
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
–
Pope John Paul II receives a
delegation
Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person (normally from a manager to a subordinate) to carry out specific activities. It is the process of distributing and entrusting work to another person,Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole ...
led by Polish
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
leader
Lech Wałęsa at the
Vatican.
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
–
Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
is
sworn in
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...
as the 40th President of the United States, ending the
Iran hostage crisis.
*
January 21 – The first
DeLorean automobile, a
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
sports car with
gull-wing doors
In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car in 1952 ( W194), and then a ...
, rolls off the
production line in
Dunmurry
Dunmurry (; ) is an urban townland in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dunmurry is in the Collin electoral ward for the local government district of Belfast City Council.
History
Until the end of the 18th century, Dunmurry was largely an agricultura ...
,
Northern Ireland.
*
January 24 – An
earthquake of magnitude in
Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.
*
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
– In South Africa the largest part of the town
Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the
Great Karoo.
*
January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
– The
Indonesian passenger ship ''Tamponas 2'' catches fire and capsizes in the
Java Sea
The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...
, killing 580 people.
February
*
February 4
Events Pre–1600
* 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrellin ...
–
Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes
Prime Minister of Norway.
*
February 8 – In Greece, 20 fans of
Olympiacos F.C.
Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...
and 1 fan of
AEK Athens die, while 54 are injured, after a stampede at the
Karaiskakis Stadium in
Piraeus, possibly because Gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game.
*
February 9 – Polish Prime Minister
Józef Pińkowski resigns, and is replaced by General
Wojciech Jaruzelski.
*
February 14
Events Pre-1600
* 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
* 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis ...
–
Stardust fire: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in
Artane, Dublin,
Ireland in the early hours kills 48 people and injures 214.
*
February 17
Events Pre-1600
* 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
* 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...
–
22 –
Pope John Paul II visits the
Philippines.
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
–
1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt
The 1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt ( es, Intento de Golpe de Estado de España de 1981), known in Spain by the numeronym 23-F and also known as the Tejerazo, was an attempted ''coup d'état'' or ''putsch'' in Spain on 23 February 1981. Lieut ...
("23-F"):
Antonio Tejero, with members of the
Guardia Civil, enters the
Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
Leopoldo Ramón Pedro Calvo-Sotelo y Bustelo, 1st Marquess of Ría de Ribadeo (; 14 April 1926 – 3 May 2008), usually known as Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, was Prime Minister of Spain between 1981 and 1982.
Early life and career
Calvo-Sotelo was b ...
is about to be named president of the government. The coup fails after being denounced by King
Juan Carlos.
*
February 24
Events Pre-1600
* 484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.
* 1303 – The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.
* 13 ...
– A powerful, magnitude earthquake hits
Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in
Corinth and the nearby towns of
Loutraki,
Kiato and
Xylokastro
Xylokastro ( el, Ξυλόκαστρο) is a seaside town or village and a former municipality in Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Xylokastro-Evrostina, of which it is a unit ...
.
March
*
March 1 –
1981 Irish hunger strike
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republicanism, Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government ...
:
Bobby Sands, a
Provisional Irish Republican Army member, begins a
hunger strike for
political status at
HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) in
Northern Ireland, dying on
May 5, the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die.
*
March 11 –
Chilean military dictator
Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as
President of Chile for another 8-year term.
*
March 17 – In Italy the
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...
Masonic lodge is discovered.
*
March 19 – Two or three workers are killed and 4 injured during a ground test of
Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' at
Kennedy Space Center in the United States.
*
March 29 – The first
London Marathon starts, with 7,500 runners.
*
March 30 –
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by
John Hinckley, Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinck ...
; 2 police officers and Press Secretary
James Brady
James Scott Brady (August 29, 1940 – August 4, 2014) was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the seventeenth White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, Brady b ...
are also wounded.
April
*
April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
– UK pop group
Bucks Fizz
Bucks Fizz were a British pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comp ...
's song ''
Making Your Mind Up'' wins the
1981 Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "What's Another Year" by Johnny Logan. Organised by the Europea ...
in
Dublin,
Republic of Ireland.
*
April 11 –
1981 Brixton riot
The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a series of clashes between mainly black youths and the Metropolitan Police in Brixton, London, between 10 and 12 April 1981.J. A. Cloake & M. R. Tudor. ''Multicultural Britain''. Oxford Unive ...
: Rioters in south London, UK, throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
*
April 12 – The
Space Shuttle program:
Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' with
NASA astronauts
John Young and
Robert Crippen launches on the
STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on
April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit.
*
April 15 – The first
Coca-Cola bottling plant in China is opened.
*
April 18 – A
Minor League Baseball game between the
Rochester Red Wings
The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...
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
Events Pre-1600
* 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.
* 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.
* 1280 – The Spanish Re ...
).
*
April 26 –
French presidential election
Presidential elections in France determine who will serve as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra for the French side for the next five years.
Until 2002, the elections were held every seven years. They are always held on a Sunday. Si ...
: A first-round runoff results between
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
.
May
* May –
Daniel K. Ludwig
Daniel Keith Ludwig (June 24, 1897 – August 27, 1992) was an American shipping businessman, who was also involved in many other industries. He pioneered the construction of super tankers in Japan, founded Exportadora de Sal, SA in Mexico and de ...
abandons the
Jari project in the
Amazon basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...
.
*
May 1 –
Pensions in Chile The Chile pension system (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Sistema Previsional'') refers to old-age, disability and survivor pensions for workers in Chile. The pension system was changed by José Piñera, during Augusto Pinochet's Military government of ...
: The new
Chilean pension system, based on private
pension fund
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...
s, begins.
*
May 4 – The
European Law Students' Association (ELSA) was founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary.
*
May 6 – A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects
Maya Lin's design for the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, D.C. from 1,421 other entries.
*
May 13
Events Pre-1600
*1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''.
* 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
–
Pope John Paul II assassination attempt:
Pope John Paul II is shot by
Mehmet Ali Ağca, a
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
gunman, as he enters
St. Peter's Square in
Vatican City to address a general audience. The Pope recovers.
*
May 15 – A prison officer, 31-year-old
Donna Payant, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer
Lemuel Smith. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.
*
May 21 –
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
becomes the first socialist President of the
French Fifth Republic.
*
May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
– Serial killer
Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder in England.
*
May 25 – In
Riyadh, the
Gulf Cooperation Council is created between
Bahrain,
Kuwait,
Oman,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates.
*
May 26
Events Pre-1600
* 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe.
* 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...
– The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...
.
*
May 30
Events Pre-1600
* 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
–
Bangladesh President
Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in
Chittagong
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
.
*
May 31 –
Burning of Jaffna library, one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.
June
*
June 5
Events Pre-1600
*1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.
*1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles II of Naples, Charles ...
– The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States report that 5
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
men in Los Angeles have a rare form of
pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened
immune systems, the first recognized cases of
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
*
June 6
Events Pre-1600
* 913 – Constantine VII, the eight-year-old illegitimate son of Leo VI the Wise, becomes nominal ruler of the Byzantine Empire under the regency of a seven-man council headed by Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos, appointed b ...
–
Bihar train disaster
In the Indian state of Bihar, on June 6, 1981, a passenger train carrying more than 800 passengers between Mansi (Dhamara Pul) and Saharsa, India derailed and plunged into the river Bagmati while it was crossing a bridge.
After five days, more th ...
: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the
Bagmati River in
Bihar, India, killing between 500 and 800.
*
June 7 – The
Israeli Air Force destroys
Iraq's
Osirak nuclear reactor killing ten Iraqi troops and a French technician.
*
June 10 – Alfredo Rampi, a 6-year-old boy, falls into an artesian well in Vermicino, near Rome. After nearly three days of failed rescue attempts followed with bated breath from all over Italy, Alfredino dies inside the well, at a depth of 60 meters.
*
June 13 – At the
Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, teenager
Marcus Sarjeant fires 6 blank shots close to Queen
Elizabeth II, startling her horse.
*
June 18
** The
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States is founded.
** The
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter makes its first flight at
Groom Lake (
Area 51), Nevada.
*
June 22 – Iranian president
Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.
*
June 27
** The first game of paintball is played, in
Henniker, New Hampshire, United States.
** The
E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation is unveiled at NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model Serial Number 001 is issued to
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
.
July
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
–
Wonderland murders: The
Wonderland Gang of cocaine dealers is brutally murdered in Los Angeles.
Eddie Nash
Eddie Nash (April 3, 1929 – August 9, 2014) was an American nightclub owner and restaurateur in Los Angeles, as well as a convicted money launderer and drug dealer. Nash was allegedly the mastermind behind the Wonderland Murders, but was nev ...
is suspected of involvement, but will never be convicted.
*
July 3 – The
Toxteth riots in
Liverpool, England, start after a mob saves a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the
Chapeltown riots in
Leeds start after increased racial tension.
*
July 7 – United States President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
nominates the first woman,
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
, to the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
*
July 9
Events Pre-1600
*118 – Hadrian, who became emperor a year previously on Trajan's death, makes his entry into Rome.
* 381 – The end of the First Council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Theodos ...
– ''
Donkey Kong'' is released, marking the first ''
Donkey Kong'' and
Mario smash hit arcade game developed by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
in Japan.
*
July 10
**
Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes the 4th
Prime Minister of Malaysia.
**
1981 Handsworth riots
The 1981 Handsworth riots were three days of rioting that took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England in July 1981. The major outbreak of violence took place on the night of Friday 10/11 July, with smaller disturbances on the fol ...
in
Birmingham begin, followed by further
1981 England riots
In April and July 1981, there were riots in several cities and towns in England. The riots mainly involved black English youth clashing with police. They were caused by tension between black people and the police, especially perceived racist disc ...
in several urban areas including
Liverpool and
Leeds.
*
July 16
Events Pre-1600
* 622 – The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
* 997 – Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece.
* 105 ...
–
21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the
follow-on when they beat Australia by 18 runs at
Headingley cricket ground, Leeds, England.
*
July 17
**
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.
**
Israeli aircraft bomb
Beirut,
destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of
PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...
associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.
*
July 19 – The
1981 Springbok Tour
The 1981 South African rugby tour (known in New Zealand as the Springbok Tour, and in Republic of South Africa, South Africa as the Rebel Tour) polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The controversy also extende ...
commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of
apartheid.
*
July 21 –
Panda Tohui Tohui or Towi (July 21, 1981 - November 16, 1993) is the name of the second giant panda to be born in captivity outside of China, and the first overseas-born giant panda to survive into adulthood. She became a cultural icon in Mexico.
Tohui is from ...
is born in
Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China.
*
July 29 – A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the
Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
in London, UK.
*
July 30
Events Pre-1600
* 762 – Baghdad is founded.
*1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
*1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands ...
–
1981 Polish hunger demonstrations
In mid-1981, amid a widespread economic crisis and food shortages in the Polish People's Republic, thousands of Poles, mainly women and their children, took part in several hunger demonstrations, organized in cities and towns across the country. ...
: As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in
Łódź to protest about food ration shortages in
Communist Poland.
August
*
August 1 – The first 24-hour video music channel
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
(Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, ''
Video Killed the Radio Star'' by
The Buggles.
*
August 9 –
1981 Major League Baseball strike
The 1981 Major League Baseball strike was the first work stoppage in Major League Baseball since the 1972 Major League Baseball strike that resulted in regular season games being cancelled. Overall, it was the fourth work stoppage since 1972, bu ...
ends in the United States, and
Major League Baseball resumes with the
All-Star Game in
Cleveland's
Municipal Stadium.
*
August 12 – The original Model 5150
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
(with a 4.77 MHz
Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
*
August 19
Events Pre-1600
*295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
*43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later know ...
–
Gulf of Sidra incident:
Libyan president
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
sends two
Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. Navy fighters over the
Gulf of Sidra
The Gulf of Sidra ( ar, خليج السدرة, Khalij as-Sidra, also known as the Gulf of Sirte ( ar, خليج سرت, Khalij Surt, is a body of water in the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Libya, named after the oil port of Sidra or ...
. The U.S. jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
*
August 23 – South African troops attack
SWAPO
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
bases in
Xangongo
Xangongo (pre-1975: ''Vila Roçadas'') is a town, with a population of 35,000 (2014), and a commune in the municipality of Ombadja, province of Cunene, Angola.
It is also the seat of that municipality and is located at around . It was also the s ...
and
Ongiva,
Angola, during
Operation Protea
Operation Protea was a military operation during the South African Border War and Angolan Civil War in which South African Defence Forces (SADF) destroyed a number of South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) bases in Angola. During the ...
.
*
August 24 –
Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering
John Lennon in
Manhattan eight months earlier.
*
August 27 – North Korea fires a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird spy plane flying in South Korean and international airspace. The missile misses and the airplane is unharmed.
*
August 30 –
1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing
The office of Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Prime Minister of Iran, was bombed on 30 August 1981 by the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), killing Bahonar, President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and six other Iranian government officials. The briefcase bombing ca ...
: Eight people, including the country's president and prime minister, are killed when a briefcase, planted by
People's Mujahedin of Iran, explodes in the building.
*
August 31 – A bomb explodes at the United States
Ramstein Air Base
Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also ...
in West Germany, injuring 20 people.
September
*
September 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated.
* 1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancon ...
–
Gregorio Conrado Álvarez is inaugurated as a military
de facto President of Uruguay.
*
September 4 – An
explosion at a mine in
Záluží,
Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people.
*
September 7 – British plantation company,
Guthrie was taken over by the
Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'.
*
September 10 –
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
's painting ''
Guernica
Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...
'' is moved from New York to
Madrid.
*
September 15
Events Pre-1600
* 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.
*1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...
**
Our Lady of Akita in Japan cries for the last time, on the Feast of
Our Lady of Sorrows.
** The ''
John Bull'' becomes the oldest operable
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
*
September 17
Events Pre-1600
* 1111 – Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia".
* 1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is the last attempt by the Byzantine Empi ...
–
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American professional wrestler. Regarded by multiple peers and journalists as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, Flair has had a career spanni ...
defeats Dusty Rhodes to win his first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
.
*
September 18 – France's National Assembly votes to abolish
Capital punishment in France.
*
September 19 –
Solidarity Day march The Solidarity Day marches were a pair of large political rallies in support of organized labor that took place in Washington, D.C. on September 19, 1981 and August 31, 1991. Approximately 250,000–500,000 people took part in each march.
Events l ...
, in support of organized labor, draws approximately 250,000 people in Washington, D.C.
*
September 20 – The overcrowded ferry boat ''
Sobral Santos II
The was a ferry which operated on the Amazon River. On Saturday, September 19, 1981, it was making its weekly trip between Santarém and Manaus when it sank in Óbidos harbour. The boat was overcrowded, and it is assumed that over 300 people ...
'' capsizes in the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
,
Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300 people.
*
September 21 –
Belize, formerly
British Honduras, gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
*
September 25
Events Pre-1600
* 275 – For the last time, the Roman Senate chooses an emperor; they elect 75-year-old Marcus Claudius Tacitus.
* 762 – Led by Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, the Hasanid branch of the Alids begins the Alid Revolt a ...
–
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...
takes her seat as the first female justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court.
*
September 26
** The
Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
airliner makes its first flight.
** The
Sydney Tower opens to the public in Australia.
*
September 27 –
TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
high-speed rail service between Paris and
Lyon, France, begins.
*
September 27–
29 –
Iran–Iraq War: Iranian forces break the
Siege of Abadan
The Siege of Abadan refers to the encirclement of the city by Iraqi forces beginning in November 1980. The city had already been under almost daily bombardment since the early days of the war, which began the previous September.
Abadan Island wa ...
in
Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh
Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh ( fa, عملیات ثامنالائمه "Operation Eighth of the Imams") was an offensive of the Iran–Iraq War between 27–29 September 1981 where Iran broke the Iraqi Siege of Abadan. The operation was carried ou ...
.
October
*
October 5 –
Raoul Wallenberg becomes a posthumously honorary citizen of the United States.
*
October 10 – The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the
jōyō kanji
The is the guide to kanji characters and their readings, announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current ''jōyō kanji'' are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010. It is a slightly modified version of the ''tō ...
.
*
October 14
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – The Norman conquest of England begins with the Battle of Hastings.
* 1322 – Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's i ...
– Vice President
Hosni Mubarak is elected President of
Egypt, one week after the assassination of
Anwar Sadat during a parade, by servicemen who belong to the
Egyptian
Islamic Jihad organization led by
Khalid Islambouli and oppose his negotiations with
Israel.
*
October 16 – Gas explosions at a coal mine at Hokutan,
Yūbari, Hokkaidō, Japan, kill 93 people.
*
October 21 –
Andreas Papandreou becomes
Prime Minister of Greece
The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρωθυπουργός της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Prothypourgós tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), colloquially referred to as the prime minister of Greece ( el, Πρωθυ ...
.
*
October 22 – The founding congress of the
Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D. P. Singh begins.
*
October 27 –
Soviet submarine S-363
Soviet submarine ''S-363'' was a Soviet Navy of the Baltic Fleet, which became notable under the designation U137 when it ran aground on 27 October 1981 on the south coast of Sweden, approximately from Karlskrona, one of the largest Swedis ...
runs aground outside the
Karlskrona
Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...
, Sweden, military base, leading to a minor international incident.
November
*
November 1
Events Pre-1600
* 365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities.
* 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, ...
–
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...
gain
independence from the United Kingdom.
*
November 9
Events Pre-1600
* 694 – At the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims, sentencing all Jews to slavery.
* 1277 – The Treaty of Aberconwy, a humiliating settlement f ...
–
Slavery in Mauritania is abolished by Edict No. 81-234.
*
November 12
Events Pre-1600
* 954 – The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
*1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros.
* 13 ...
– The
Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.
*
November 22 – The
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...
(14-1-1) barely stave off defeat and win a record 4th consecutive
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
in the
Canadian Football League, at the
69th Grey Cup at
Montréal's
Olympic Stadium defeating the
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...
(5-11-0) 26–23 in the final three seconds; after being down 20–1 at halftime.
*
November 23
**
Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
signs the
top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the
Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support
Contra rebels in
Nicaragua.
**
1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak
The 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak is regarded as the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history. In the span of 5 hours and 26 minutes during the late morning and early afternoon of 23 November 1981, 104 confirmed tornadoes touc ...
, the largest recorded
tornado outbreak in European history.
*
November 25–
26 –
1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt
The 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt, sometimes referred to as the Seychelles affair or Operation Angela, was a failed South African–orchestrated coup to overthrow the government of Prime Minister France-Albert René in Seychelles and resto ...
: A group of
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
led by
Mike Hoare take over
Mahe airport. Most of them escape by a commandeered
Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested.
December
*
December 1 – An
Inex-Adria Aviopromet McDonnell Douglas MD-80
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...
strikes a mountain peak and crashes while approaching
Ajaccio Airport
Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport d'Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte; co, link=no, Aeruportu di Aiacciu Nabulione Buonaparte; ), formerly "Campo dell'Oro Airport", is the main airport serving Ajaccio on the French islan ...
in
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
, killing all 180 people on board.
*
December 4 – South Africa grants
Ciskei
Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...
independence, not recognized outside South Africa.
*
December 7 –
Rotary International
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie,
Mauritius.
*
December 8
** The
No. 21 Mine explosion On December 8, 1981, 13 coal miners lost their lives as the result of an explosion at the No. 21 Mine, an underground coal mine near Whitwell, Tennessee.
The mine was owned by the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company and operated by a subsidiary, ...
in
Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13.
**
Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the
National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in UK miners' strike (1972), 197 ...
.
*
December 10 – During the Ministerial Session of the
North Atlantic Council in
Brussels, Spain signs the
Protocol of Accession to
NATO.
*
December 11
**
Boxing:
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
loses to
Trevor Berbick; this proves to be Ali's last-ever fight.
**
El Mozote massacre: In
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, army units kill 900 civilians.
*
December 13 –
Wojciech Jaruzelski declares
martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by
Solidarity
''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
.
*
December 15
Events Pre-1600
* 533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.
* 687 – Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theod ...
– A
car bomb
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles.
Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
destroys the
Iraqi Embassy in
Beirut,
Lebanon, killing 61 people;
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n intelligence is blamed.
*
December 17
Events Pre-1600
* 497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
* 546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
* 920 – Romanos I Lekap ...
– American Brigadier General
James L. Dozier
James Lee Dozier (born April 10, 1931) is a retired United States Army officer. In December 1981, he was kidnapped by the Italian Red Brigades Marxist guerilla group. He was rescued by NOCS, an Italian special force, with assistance from the In ...
is kidnapped in
Verona by the Italian
Red Brigades.
*
December 20 – The
Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the ''Union Star'' off the coast of South-West
Cornwall, the lifeboat ''Solomon Browne'' is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.
*
December 28 – The first American
test-tube baby
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
,
Elizabeth Jordan Carr
Elizabeth Jordan Carr (born December 28, 1981 at 7:46 am) is the United States' first baby born from the in-vitro fertilization procedure and the 15th in the world. The technique was conducted at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk under t ...
, is born in
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
.
*
December 31 – A
coup d'état in
Ghana removes
President Hilla Limann
Hilla Limann, (12 December 1934 – 23 January 1998) was a Ghanaian diplomat and politician who served the President of Ghana from 24 September 1979 to 31 December 1981. He served as a diplomat in Lome, Togo and Geneva, Switzerland.
Education
...
's
PNP government and replaces it with the
PNDC
The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...
led by
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...
Jerry Rawlings.
Date unknown
* January to March –
Heavy snow causes many houses and buildings to collapse in northwestern Japan; 152 are killed.
*
Cuba suffers a major outbreak of
dengue fever
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...
, with 344,203 cases.
* Use of
crack cocaine
Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...
, a smokeable form of the drug, first reported in the
United States and
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
.
*
Luxor AB
Luxor was a Swedish home electronics and computer manufacturer located in Motala, established in 1923 and acquired by Nokia in 1985. The brand name is now owned by Turkish company Vestel and is used for televisions sold in the Swedish market.
O ...
presents the
ABC 800
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
computer.
*
Polybius
Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail.
Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...
, an urban legend game, is said to have been released in
Portland, Oregon; there is no evidence for its existence.
* The
State Council of the People's Republic of China
The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...
lists the cities of Beijing,
Hangzhou,
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
and Guilin as those where the protection of historical and cultural heritage, as well as natural scenery, should be treated as a priority project.
* Pepsi enters China.
* China becomes the first country to ever reach a population of 1 billion around the end of 1981.
Births
January
*
January 1
** Mladen Petrić, Croatian football player
* January 2 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
* January 3 – Eli Manning, American football player
* January 4 – Joe Bishop-Henchman, American attorney and politician
* January 5 – Deadmau5 (Joel Zimmerman), Canadian DJ/producer
* January 6 – Rinko Kikuchi, Japanese actress
* January 8
** Xie Xingfang, Chinese badminton player
** Genevieve Cortese, American actress
* January 9 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer
*
January 10
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
* 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...
–
** Jared Kushner, American investor
** Chris Pozniak, Canadian footballer
* January 11 – Jamelia, British singer
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
** Howie Day, American singer
** El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
** Pitbull (rapper), Pitbull, American hip-hop musician and record producer
* January 17 – Ray J, American rapper and singer
* January 19 – Lucho González, Argentine footballer
**Elizabeth Tulloch, American actress
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
** Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born English footballer
** Jason Richardson, American basketball player
*
January 21 – Izabella Miko, Polish actress and dancer
*
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
** Alicia Keys, American singer, pianist and actress
** Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007)
* January 26 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan conductor
*
January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
** Yaniv Katan, Israeli footballer
** Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player
* January 28 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer
* January 29 – Tenoch Huerta, Mexican actor
* January 30 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
* January 31
** Gemma Collins, English media personality and businesswoman
**Justin Timberlake, American actor and musician
February
* February 2 – Emily Rose (actress), Emily Rose, American actress
* February 3 – Ben Sigmund, New Zealand footballer
*
February 4
Events Pre–1600
* 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrellin ...
** Paulien van Deutekom, Dutch speed skater (d. 2019)
** Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysian politician
* February 5 – Nora Zehetner, American actress
*
February 8
** Dawn Olivieri, American actress
** Jim Parrack, American actor
*
February 9 – Tom Hiddleston, British actor
* February 10
** Uzo Aduba, American actress
** Holly Willoughby, English television presenter
* February 11
** Kelly Rowland, American singer and actress
** Edoardo Molinari, Italian golfer
* February 12 – Selena Li, Hong Kong actress
*
February 17
Events Pre-1600
* 1370 – Northern Crusades: Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights meet in the Battle of Rudau.
* 1411 – Following the successful campaigns during the Ottoman Interregnum, Musa Çelebi, one of the sons of ...
** Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor and film director
** Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite
* February 18 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
– Josh Gad, American actor, comedian, and singer
*
February 24
Events Pre-1600
* 484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.
* 1303 – The English are defeated at the Battle of Roslin, in the First War of Scottish Independence.
* 13 ...
– Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
* February 25
** Park Ji-sung, South Korean footballer
** Shahid Kapoor, Indian actor
**Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Mexican actor
* February 27
** Josh Groban, American singer
** Mat Yeung, Hong Kong actor
March
*
March 1 – Will Power, Australian racing driver
* March 2 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
* March 3
** Julius Malema, South African politician
** László Nagy (handballer), László Nagy, Hungarian handball player
* March 5 – Hanna Alström, Swedish actress
* March 10
** Samuel Eto'o, Cameroonian footballer* March 12
** Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese professional wrestler
** Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player
*
March 11 – Matthias Schweighöfer, German actor, director and producer
* March 13 – Olena Kot, Ukrainian journalists.
* March 15 – Young Buck, American rapper
*
March 17 – Kyle Korver, American basketball player
* March 18
** Fabian Cancellara, Swiss road bicycle racer
*
March 19 – Kolo Touré, Ivorian football player
* March 26 – Luke Ford, Canadian-Australian actor
* March 28
** Dan Petronijevic, Canadian actor
** Julia Stiles, American actress
*
March 29 – Megan Hilty, American actress and singer
* March 31 – Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch Olympic swimmer
April
* April 1
** Aslı Bayram, Turkish German model and actress
** Aimee Chan, Chinese-Canadian actress
** Nolan Yonkman, Canadian hockey player
*
* April 2
** Kapil Sharma, Indian stand- up comedian and actor
* April 6
** Lucas Licht, Argentine footballer
* April 7
** Óscar Alberto Pérez, Venezuelan rebel leader and detective (d. 2018)
**Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
* April 8
** Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer
** Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
** Ofer Shechter, Israeli actor
* April 9 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak hockey player
*
April 11
**Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
**Luis Flores (basketball), Luis Flores, Dominican basketball player
* April 16 - Russell Harvard, deaf American actor
*
April 18
** Jang Na-ra, Korean actress and singer
** Audrey Tang, Taiwanese software programmer
* April 19
** Hayden Christensen, Canadian-American actor
** Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
* April 25
** Felipe Massa, Brazilian racing driver
** Anja Pärson, Swedish alpine skier
** Krzysztof Tuduj, Polish politician
*
April 26 – Matthieu Delpierre, French football player
* April 28 – Jessica Alba, American actress and businesswoman
* April 29 – Kunal Nayyar, British-Indian actor
May
*
May 1 – Alexander Hleb, Belarusian football player
*
May 5 – Craig David, English singer
* May 8 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
* May 11
** Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
** Daisuke Matsui, Japanese football player
* May 12
** Rami Malek, American actor
** Kentaro Sato (composer), Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
*
May 13
Events Pre-1600
*1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''.
* 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
– Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
*
May 15
** Patrice Evra, Senegalese-born French footballer
** Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
** Zara Tindall, British elite equestrienne
* May 16 – Joseph Morgan (actor), Joseph Morgan, English actor
* May 17 – Shiri Maimon, Israeli pop/R&B singer, TV show host and actress
* May 19
** Sani Bečirovič, Slovenian basketball player
** Bong Tae-gyu, South Korean actor
** Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
** Georges St-Pierre, Canadian mixed martial arts fighter
* May 20
** Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
** Rachel Platten, American singer-songwriter
** Mark Winterbottom, Australian racing driver
*
May 21 – Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
*
May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
** Bryan Danielson, American professional wrestler
** Melissa Gregory, American figure skater
* May 23 - Dessa, American Doomtree singer
* May 24 – Andy Lee (comedian), Andy Lee, Australian comedian and musician
*
May 25 – Logan Tom, American volleyball player
*
May 26
Events Pre-1600
* 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe.
* 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire take ...
– Anthony Ervin, American swimmer
* May 27 – Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
* May 29
** Justin Chon, American actor
** Andrey Arshavin, Russian football player
June
* June 1
** Brandi Carlile, American singer and songwriter
** Amy Schumer, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
* June 3 – Mike Adam, Canadian curler
* June 4
** T.J. Miller, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
** Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer
** Natalia Vodopyanova, Russian basketball player
*
June 5
Events Pre-1600
*1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.
*1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles II of Naples, Charles ...
– Sébastien Lefebvre, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
*
June 7
** Larisa Oleynik, American actress
** Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
* June 9
** Celina Jaitly, Indian actress
** Natalie Portman, Israeli-American actress
** Anoushka Shankar, British musician and daughter of Ravi Shankar
* June 12 – Adriana Lima, Brazilian model
*
June 13 – Chris Evans (actor), Chris Evans, American actor
* June 14 – Lonneke Engel, Dutch model
* June 15 – Veljo Reinik, Estonian actor
* June 17 – Amrita Rao, Indian actress
*
June 18 – Ella Chen, Taiwanese singer
* June 21
** Simon Delestre, French equestrian
** Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist
*
June 23
Events Pre-1600
* 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.
* 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.
* 1280 – The Spanish Re ...
– Joe Taslim, Indonesian actor and martial artist
* June 24 – Júnior Assunção, Brazilian mixed martial artist
* June 25
** Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
** Carlo Prater, Brazilian mixed martial artist
** Sheridan Smith, English actress
*
June 27 – Majida Issa, Colombian actress
* June 28 – Mara Santangelo, Italian tennis player
* June 29
** Joe Johnson (basketball), Joe Johnson, American basketball player
** Maria Maya, Brazilian actress
July
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
** Orlando Cruz, Puerto Rican boxer
** Tim Reddy, International Man of Mystery
*
July 3
** Evgeny Postny, Israeli chess grandmaster
** Tevita Leo-Latu, New Zealand rugby league footballer
* July 4 – Tahar Rahim, French actor
* July 5
** Gianne Albertoni, Brazilian model
** Ryan Hansen, American actor
* July 6
** Omar Naber, Slovenian singer, songwriter and guitar player
** Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricketer
** Synyster Gates, American guitarist
* July 8 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
* July 11 – Susana Barreiros, Venezuelan judge
* July 12 – Bojana Novakovic, Serbian-Australian actress
* July 13
** Hassan Al Kontar, Refugees of the Syrian Civil War, Syrian refugee
** Ágnes Kovács, Hungarian swimmer
* July 15 – Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Malaysian footballer
*
July 17 – Mélanie Thierry, French actress
* July 18 – Michiel Huisman, Dutch actor, musician and singer-songwriter
*
July 19 – Nikki Osborne, Australian actress
*
July 21
** Paloma Faith, English singer, songwriter and actress
** Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Joaquín, Spanish footballer
* July 22
** Clive Standen, Northern Irish actor
** Josh Lawson, Australian actor
* July 23 –
** Jarkko Nieminen, Finnish tennis player
** Steve Jocz, Sum 41 ex-drummer
* July 24
** Summer Glau, American actress
** Nayib Bukele, 46th President of El Salvador
* July 25 – Finn Bálor (aka Fergal Devitt), Irish professional wrestler
* July 26 – Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian footballer
* July 27 – Li Xiaopeng (gymnast), Li Xiaopeng, Chinese gymnast
*
July 29 – Fernando Alonso, Spanish double Formula 1 world champion
*
July 30
Events Pre-1600
* 762 – Baghdad is founded.
*1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
*1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands ...
– Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (d. 2017)
August
* August 3 – Fikirte Addis, Ethiopian fashion designer
* August 4
** Abigail Spencer, American actress
** Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, American actress and member of the British royal family
* August 5 – Anna Rawson, Australian professional golfer
* Jesse Williams (actor), Jesse Williams, American actor, director, producer and activist
* August 6 - Leslie Odom Jr., American actor
* August 8
** Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
** Meagan Good, American actress
** Harel Skaat, Israeli singer
*
August 9 – Li Jiawei, Singaporean Olympic table tennis player
* August 10
** Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress
** Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player
*
August 12
** Djibril Cissé, French footballer
** Steve Talley, American actor
* August 14
** Scott Lipsky, American tennis player
** Kofi Kingston, Ghanaian professional wrestler
* August 15
** Zaka Alao, French basketball player
** Tosyn Bucknor, Nigerian media personality (d. 2018)
** Song Ji-hyo, South Korean actress
** Oh Jin-hyek, South Korean archer
* August 17 – Hinde Boulbayem
* August 18 – Jan Frodeno, German triathlete
*
August 19
Events Pre-1600
*295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
*43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later know ...
- Nate Burleson, American football player, TV host
* August 20 – Ben Barnes (actor), Ben Barnes, English actor (Caspian X, Prince Caspian)
* August 21 – Jarrod Lyle, Australian golfer (d. 2018)
*
August 24 – Chad Michael Murray, American actor
* August 25 – Rachel Bilson, American actress
*
August 27 – Patrick J. Adams, Canadian actor and director
* August 29
** Jay Ryan (actor), Jay Ryan, New Zealand actor
** Karim Darwish (squash), Karim Darwish, Egyptian squash player
September
*
September 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated.
* 1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancon ...
– Park Hyo-shin, Korean singer
*
September 4 – Beyoncé, American actress and R&B singer (Destiny's Child)
* September 8 – Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
* September 9
** Julie Gonzalo, Argentine-American actress and producer
** Nancy Wu, Hong Kong actress
*
September 10 – Marco Chiudinelli, Swiss tennis player
* September 12 – Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
* September 14
** Jordi Mestre, Spanish actor and model (d. 2020)
** Ashley Roberts, American singer (The Pussycat Dolls)
** Miyavi, Japanese musician
*
September 15
Events Pre-1600
* 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.
*1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...
– Ben Schwartz, American actor
* September 16
** Alexis Bledel, American actress and model
** Fan Bingbing, Chinese actress
*
September 18 – Jennifer Tisdale, American actress
* September 23 – Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
*
September 26
** Asuka (wrestler), Asuka, Japanese professional wrestler
** Christina Milian, American R&B singer and actress
** Serena Williams, American tennis player
* September 30
** Cecelia Ahern, Irish author, daughter of Bertie Ahern
** Dominique Moceanu, Romanian-American gymnast
October
* October 1 – Roxane Mesquida, French actress
* October 3 – Zlatan Ibrahimović, Swedish international
*
October 5 – Enrico Fabris, Italian speed skater
* October 8 – Chris Killen, New Zealand footballer
* October 9 – Rupert Friend, English actor
* October 12
** Engin Akyürek, Turkish actor
** Brian J. Smith, American actor
** Tom Guiry, American actor
* October 15
** Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
** Guo Jingjing, Chinese diver
*
October 16 – Caterina Scorsone, Canadian actress
* October 19 – Dmitri Shlyakhtin, former Russian professional football player
* October 20 – Stefan Nystrand, Swedish swimmer
*
October 21 – Nemanja Vidić, Serbian football player
* October 23 – Huo Siyan, Chinese actress
* October 24
** Tila Tequila, Vietnamese-American model
** Mallika Sherawat, Indian actress
* October 25 – Shaun Wright-Phillips, English footballer
* October 26 – Guy Sebastian, original Australian Idol 2003 singer
* October 28
** Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
* October 29
** Amanda Beard, American swimmer
** Kate Bedingfield, American White House official; Communications Director
* October 30
** Jun Ji-hyun, South Korean actress
** Ivanka Trump, American model and advisor
* October 31 – Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)
November
* November 2
** Tatiana Totmianina, Russian figure skater
** Ai (singer), Ai, Japanese-American singer-songwriter
** Katharine Isabelle, Canadian actress
* November 4 – Lakshmi Menon (model), Lakshmi Menon, Indian model
* November 8 – Joe Cole, English footballer
* November 11
** Natalie Glebova, Russian-born Canadian beauty queen
** Raphael Gualazzi, Italian singer and pianist, Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision Song Contest 2011 runner-up
** Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
* November 14 – Russell Tovey, British actor
* November 15 – Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
* November 16 - Kate Miller-Heidke, Australian singer, songwriter and actress
* November 18
** Allison Tolman, American actress
** Nasim Pedrad, Iranian-American actress and comedian
* November 19 – Yfke Sturm, Dutch model
* November 20
** Andrea Riseborough, English actress
** Kimberley Walsh, British singer (Girls Aloud)
*
November 22 – Song Hye-kyo, South Korean actress
*
November 25 – Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
* November 26
** Natasha Bedingfield, British singer-songwriter
** Jon Ryan, Canadian National Football League football player from Regina, Saskatchewan
* November 27 – Bruno Alves, Portuguese footballer
* November 29 – Bakhyt Sarsekbayev, Kazakh Olympic boxer
December
* December 2 – Britney Spears, American singer-songwriter, choreographer
* December 3
**Brian Bonsall, American actor and musician
**David Villa, Spanish footballer
* December 6 – Lior Suchard, Israeli mentalist
* December 9 – Dia Mirza, Bollywood actress
*
December 11
** Kevin Phillips (actor), Kevin Phillips, American film actor
** Javier Saviola, Argentine soccer player
*
December 13 – Amy Lee, American pianist/singer-songwriter (Evanescence)
* December 14 – Amber Chia, Malaysian model and actress
*
December 15
Events Pre-1600
* 533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.
* 687 – Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theod ...
** Michelle Dockery, British actress
** Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian football player
** Firman Utina, Indonesian football player
* December 16 – Krysten Ritter, American actress, musician, author, and model
*
December 20 – Leo Bertos, New Zealand footballer
* December 24 – Dima Bilan, Russian pop-singer
* December 26 – Nikolai Nikolaeff, Australian actor
* December 27
** Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
** Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
*
December 28
** Sienna Miller, American-born English actress
** Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
* December 29 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
Deaths
January
*
January 1
** Kazimierz Michałowski, Polish archaeologist (b. 1901)
** Mauri Rose, American race car champion (b. 1906)
* January 3
** Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria (b. 1883)
** Marvin Opler, American anthropologist (b. 1914)
* January 5
** Harold Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
** Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet and activist (b. 1901)
* January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
*
January 10
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
* 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...
** Katharine Alexander, Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
** Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)
* January 11 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
* January 12 – John Fearns Nicoll, Sir John Nicoll, British colonial governor (b. 1899)
* January 13 – Robert Kellard, American actor (b. 1915)
* January 16 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
* January 19 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
*
January 21 – Allyn Joslyn, American actor (b. 1901)
* January 23 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
*
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
– Adele Astaire, American actress (b. 1896)
*
January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
– Leo Collard, Léo Collard, Belgian Socialist politician (b. 1902)
* January 29 – Lajos Korányi, Hungarian footballer (b. 1907)
* January 30 – John Gordon (archbishop), John Gordon, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1912)
* January 31 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
February
* February 1
** Wanda Hendrix, American actress (b. 1928)
** Ernst Pepping, German composer (b. 1901)
** Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
* February 2 – Hugh Joseph Addonizio, Italian-born American politician and Mayor of Newark (b. 1914)
*
February 4
Events Pre–1600
* 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrellin ...
– Mario Camerini, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1895)
* February 6 – Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of the Hellenes and wife of King Paul of Greece (b. 1917)
* February 7 – Hermann Esser, German journalist and editor of the Nazi newspaper ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (b. 1900)
*
February 9
** Bill Haley (musician), Bill Haley, American rock musician, member of Bill Haley & The Comets (b. 1925)
** Jack Z. Anderson, U.S. Representative from California (b. 1904)
* February 10 – Hubert Shirley-Smith, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
* February 12 – Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, British admiral (b. 1888)
* February 15
** Karl Richter (conductor), Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
** Mike Bloomfield, American blues guitarist (b. 1943)
* February 18
** John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)
** Ibrahim Abdel Hady Pasha, Egyptian politician, 28th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1896)
* February 20
** Bernard B. Brown, American sound engineer and composer (b. 1898)
** Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)
* February 22
** Michael Maltese, American screenwriter (b. 1908)
** Curtis Bernhardt, German film director (b. 1899)
** Ilo Wallace, wife of Henry A. Wallace, Second Lady of the United States (b. 1888)
* February 25
** Leonard Howell, Founder of Rastafarianism (b. 1898)
** Gunichi Mikawa, Japanese admiral (b. 1888)
* February 26 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
* February 27 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (b. 1920)
March
*
March 1 – Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, 14th President of Panama (b. 1903)
* March 4 – Torin Thatcher, American actor (b. 1905)
* March 5 – Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)
* March 6 – George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
* March 7
** Peter Birch (bishop), Peter Birch, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1911)
** Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
** Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling, German-Danish tennis player (b. 1908)
* March 9 – Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
* March 10 – Flavio Calzavara, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
*
March 11 – Kazimierz Kordylewski, Polish astronomer (b. 1903)
* March 14 – Paolo Grassi, Italian actor (b. 1919)
* March 15 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
* March 20 – Gerry Bertier, American college football player (b. 1953)
* March 21 – Mark Donskoy, Russian Soviet film director (b. 1901)
* March 22
** John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (b. 1911)
** Gil Puyat, Filipino businessman and politician, Senator of the Philippines and Senate President (b. 1907)
* March 23
** Claude Auchinleck, Sir Claude Auchinleck, British field marshal (b. 1884)
** Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (b. 1940)
** Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)
* March 26 – Cyril Dean Darlington, English biologist, geneticist and eugenicist, (b. 1903)
*
March 29 – Eric Williams, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911)
*
March 30
** Sherman Edwards, American songwriter (b. 1919)
** Douglas Lowe (athlete), Douglas Lowe, British Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
** DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (b. 1889)
* March 31 – Frank Tieri (mobster), Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)
April
* April 3 – Juan Trippe, airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
* April 5
** Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
** Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
**Bob Hite, American musician (Canned Heat) (b. 1943)
* April 6 – Alfredo Guarini, Italian director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1901)
* April 7 – Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
* April 8
** Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian entomologist (b. 1895)
** Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893)
*
April 12
** Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
** Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
* April 13 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
*
April 15
** John Thach, American naval aviator and admiral (b. 1905)
** Lorenzo Guerrero, former President of Nicaragua (b. 1900)
* April 17 – Ludwik Sempoliński, Polish actor (b. 1899)
*
April 18 – James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)
* April 22 – Murder of Marcia King, Marcia King, murder victim (b. 1959)
* April 23
** Nietta Zocchi, Italian actress (b. 1909)
** Josep Pla, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1897)
*
April 26
** Jim Davis (actor), Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
** Madge Evans, American actress (b. 1909)
** Muhammad Lafir, Sri Lankan snooker player (b. 1930)
* April 27 – John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
* April 28 – Cliff Battles, American football player (Boston Redskins) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1910)
May
*
May 1 – Barry Jones (actor), Barry Jones, American actor (b. 1893)
* May 3 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
*
May 5 –
Bobby Sands, Irish republican hunger striker (b. 1954)
*
May 6 – Frank O'Grady, Australian public servant (b. 1900)
* May 7 – Hiromichi Yahara, Imperial Japanese Army officer (b. 1902)
* May 8 – Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1897)
* May 9
** Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)
** Margaret Lindsay, American actress (b. 1910)
* May 11
** Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
** Bob Marley, Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1945)
* May 12 – Benjamin Sheares, Singaporean politician and professor, 2nd President of Singapore (b. 1907)
*
May 13
Events Pre-1600
*1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book '' Revelations of Divine Love''.
* 1501 – Amerigo Vespu ...
– Ben Andrews (actor), Ben Andrews, American actor (b. 1942)
* May 14 – J. Posadas, Argentine politician (b. 1912)
* May 17 – Hugo Friedhofer, German-American film composer (b. 1901)
* May 18
** Eleonore Baur, German Nazi and only woman to participate in Munich Beer Hall Putsch (b. 1885)
** Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
** William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
* May 20 – Dositej, Metropolitan of Skopje (b. 1906)
*
May 21 – Yuki Shimoda, American actor (b. 1921)
*
May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
– Boris Sagal, Ukrainian-American television and film director (b. 1923)
* May 23
** George Jessel (actor), George Jessel, American actor (b. 1898)
** Donald Macintyre (Royal Navy officer), Donald Macintyre, British naval officer and naval historian (b. 1904)
* May 24
** Jaime Roldós Aguilera, 33rd President of Ecuador (b. 1940)
** Jack Warner (actor), Jack Warner, British actor (b. 1895)
*
May 25
** Rosa Ponselle, American soprano (b. 1897)
** Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian radio astronomer (b. 1912)
** A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan Tamil teacher and politician (b. 1916)
* May 28
** John Bryan Ward-Perkins, British archaeologist (b. 1912)
** Mary Lou Williams, American jazz pianist (b. 1910)
** Stefan Wyszyński, Polish Roman Catholic prelate, archbishop and Servant of God (b. 1901)
* May 29 – Soong Ching-ling, Acting head of State of the People's Republic of China (b. 1893)
*
May 30
Events Pre-1600
* 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres ...
** Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
** Peter Lindgren (actor), Peter Lindgren, Swedish actor (b. 1915)
**
Ziaur Rahman, 7th President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)
*
May 31
** Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, British economist (b. 1914)
** Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1923)
** Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 31st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1902)
June
* June 1 – Carl Vinson, American politician (b. 1883)
* June 2 – Rino Gaetano, Italian musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
*
June 5
Events Pre-1600
*1257 – Kraków, in Poland, receives city rights.
*1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles II of Naples, Charles ...
– Miguel Contreras Torres, Mexican actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1899)
*
June 10
** Jenny Maxwell, American actress (b. 1941)
** Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa and United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (b. 1897)
* June 12 – Mahmoud Fawzi, Egyptian diplomat and political figure, 35th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1900)
*
June 13 – George Walsh, American actor (b. 1889)
* June 14 – Ronald Holmes, Sir Ronald Holmes, British government official in Hong Kong (b. 1913)
* June 16 – Thomas Playford IV, Sir Thomas Playford, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1896)
* June 17 – Sir Richard O'Connor, British general (b. 1889)
* June 19
** Billy Cook (actor), Billy Cook, American actor (b. 1928)
** Anya Phillips, American co-founder of New York City's Mudd Club (b. 1955)
** Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (b. 1899)
*
June 22
** Henri Bouillard, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1908)
** Lane Sisters, Lola Lane, American actress and singer (b. 1906)
*
June 23
Events Pre-1600
* 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.
* 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.
* 1280 – The Spanish Re ...
– Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
* June 28
** Mohammad Beheshti, Chief Justice of Iran (b. 1928)
** Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)
July
*
July 1
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
* 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the ...
** Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-born American architect (b. 1902)
** George Voskovec, Czech-American actor, writer, dramatist and director (b. 1905)
*
July 3 – Ross Martin, American actor (b. 1920)
*
July 7 – Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi, South Yemenite socialist leader, 1st President of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) (b. 1920)
* July 8 – Joe McDonnell (hunger striker), Joe McDonnell, Irish republican hunger striker (b. 1951)
*
July 10 – Giorgio De Lullo, Italian actor and director (b. 1921)
*
July 16
Events Pre-1600
* 622 – The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
* 997 – Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece.
* 105 ...
– Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
* July 27 – William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902)
* July 28 – Stanley Rother, Stanley Francis Rother, American priest, martyr, and Blessed (b. 1935)
*
July 29 – Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
* July 31 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian leader (b. 1929)
August
*
August 1
** Paddy Chayefsky, American screenwriter (b. 1923)
** Álvaro de Laiglesia, Spanish writer (b. 1922)
* August 2
** Delfo Cabrera, Argentine athlete (b. 1919)
** Stefanie Clausen, Danish diver (b. 1900)
* August 4 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
* August 14 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
* August 15
** Carlo Buscaglia, Italian football player (b. 1909)
** Karl Gero, Duke of Urach, Lichtenstein noble (b. 1899)
* August 18
** Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and arranger (b. 1894)
** Anita Loos, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
*
August 19
Events Pre-1600
*295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
*43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later know ...
– Jessie Matthews, English dancer, singer and actress (b. 1907)
* August 22 – Glauber Rocha, Brazilian filmmaker (b. 1939)
* August 26 – Roger Nash Baldwin, American social activist (b. 1884)
*
August 27 – Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
* August 28 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian-born Association footballer and coach (b. 1899)
* August 29 – Lowell Thomas, American writer and broadcaster (b. 1892)
*
August 30
** Mohammad-Ali Rajai, 47th Prime Minister of Iran and 2nd President of Iran (assassinated) (b. 1933)
** Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, Iranian theologian and politician, 48th Prime Minister of Iran (assassinated) (b. 1933)
** Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (b. 1921)
September
*
September 1
Events Pre-1600
* 1145 – The main altar of Lund Cathedral, at the time seat of the archiepiscopal see of all the Nordic countries, is consecrated.
* 1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancon ...
** Ann Harding, American actress (b. 1902)
** Albert Speer, German Nazi architect and war minister (b. 1905)
* September 2 – Enid Lyons, Australia politician (b. 1897)
*
September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (b. 1932)
* September 8
** Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
** Roy Wilkins, American civil rights activist (b. 1901)
* September 9
** Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist (b. 1901)
** Ricardo Balbín, Argentine politician, leader of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) (b. 1904)
** Robert Askin, Sir Robert (Bob) Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
* September 11 – Frank McHugh, American actor (b. 1898)
* September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
* September 14 – Charles L. Melson, American admiral (b. 1904)
*
September 15
Events Pre-1600
* 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.
*1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...
** Harold Bennett, British actor (b. 1899)
** Rafael Méndez, Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso (b. 1906)
*
September 21 – Nigel Patrick, English actor (b. 1912)
* September 22 – Harry Warren, American songwriter (b. 1893)
* September 23 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor and writer, tribal chief of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation (b. 1899)
* September 24 – Patsy Kelly, American actress (b. 1910)
*
September 27 – Robert Montgomery (actor), Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (b. 1904)
* September 28
** Rómulo Betancourt, 2-time President of Venezuela (b. 1908)
** Sir Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative cabinet minister (b. 1923)
* September 29
** Javad Fakoori, Iranian military officer, former minister of Defence (b. 1913)
** Mousa Namjoo, Iranian military officer, minister of Defence (b. 1938)
** Bill Shankly, British football manager (b. 1913)
October
* October 2
** Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
** Hazel Scott, American jazz singer and pianist (b. 1920)
* October 3 – Chrysostom Blashkevich, Soviet Order of Saint Benedict, Benedict monk (b. 1915)
* October 4 – Freddie Lindstrom, American baseball player (New York Giants (MLB), New York Giants) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1905)
*
October 5 – Gloria Grahame, American actress (b. 1923)
* October 6 –
Anwar Sadat, 37th Prime Minister of Egypt and 3rd President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1918)
* October 13
** Antonio Berni, Argentine painter (b. 1905)
** Nils Asther, Danish-born actor (b. 1897)
*
October 16
** Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)
** Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
*
October 22 – Michael Granger (actor), Michael Granger, American actor (b. 1923)
* October 24 – Edith Head, American costume designer (b. 1897)
* October 25 – Barbara Bedford (actress), Barbara Bedford, American actress (b. 1903)
*
October 27 – John Warburton (actor), John Warburton, British actor (b. 1899)
* October 29 – Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)
November
* November 2 – Wally Wood, American cartoonist (b. 1927)
* November 3 – Jean Eustache, French film director (b. 1938)
* November 7 – Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)
* November 10 – Abel Gance, French film director (b. 1889)
*
November 12
Events Pre-1600
* 954 – The 13-year-old Lothair III is crowned at the Abbey of Saint-Remi as king of the West Frankish Kingdom.
*1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanos III Argyros.
* 13 ...
– William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
* November 13 – Gerhard Marcks, German sculptor (b. 1889)
* November 15
** Walter Heitler, German physicist (b. 1904)
Fellow of the Royal Society
** Enid Markey, American actress (b. 1894)
*
November 22
** Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)
** Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
*
November 25
** Jack Albertson, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
** Morris Kirksey, American athlete (b. 1895)
* November 26 – Max Euwe, Dutch chess grandmaster (b. 1901)
* November 27 – Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (b. 1898)
* November 29 – Natalie Wood, American actress (b. 1938)
December
* December 2 – Wallace Harrison, American architect (b. 1895)
* December 6 – Harry Harlow, American psychologist (b. 1905)
*
December 7 – William Edmunds (actor), William Edmunds, Italian stage and screen character actor (b. 1886)
*
December 8 – Ferruccio Parri, Italian partisan and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1905)
*
December 13 – Cornelius Cardew, English composer (b. 1936)
*
December 15
Events Pre-1600
* 533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.
* 687 – Pope Sergius I is elected as a compromise between antipopes Paschal and Theod ...
** Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909)
** Karl Struss, American cinematographer (b. 1886)
*
December 17
Events Pre-1600
* 497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
* 546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
* 920 – Romanos I Lekap ...
** Franz Dahlem, German politician. (b. 1892)
** Mehmet Shehu, Albanian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1913)
* December 18 – Enrique Hertzog, Bolivian politician, 42nd President of Bolivia (b. 1896)
* December 23
** Luther H. Evans, American political scientist and librarian, 3rd Director General of the UNESCO (b. 1902)
** Reginald Miles Ansett, Australian businessman and aviator (b. 1909)
* December 26 – Suat Hayri Urguplu, Turkish politician, 11th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1903)
* December 27 – Hoagy Carmichael, American jazz composer (b. 1899)
*
December 28 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-born American film director (b. 1885)
Date unknown
* Ahmad Toukan, Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1903)
* Teófilo Tabanera, Argentine engineer and air force officer (b. 1909)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai Siegbahn
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – Roger Wolcott Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten Wiesel
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Elias Canetti
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences – James Tobin
References
External links
Protocol of Accession
{{DEFAULTSORT:1981
1981,