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January

*
January 1 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
**
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
. **
Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...
becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10
Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War ( es, guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front The Farabundo Ma ...
: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrati ...
at the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
. * January 20
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the
Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over ...
. *
January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
– The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel
sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
with gull-wing doors, rolls off the
production line A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory where components are assembled to make a finished article or where materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward c ...
in Dunmurry,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. *
January 24 Events Pre-1600 * 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula. * 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt. *1438 – The Cou ...
– An
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
of magnitude in
Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day. * January 25 – 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 The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...
. * January 27 – The
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n passenger ship ''Tamponas 2'' catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580 people.


February

* February 4
Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician ( Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organizat ...
becomes
Prime Minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...
. *
February 8 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. *1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
– 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 A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
die, while 54 are injured, after a stampede at the
Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Καραϊσκάκη, ), is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the ...
in
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...
, possibly because Gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game. *
February 9 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. *1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
– Polish Prime Minister
Józef Pińkowski Józef Pińkowski (; 17 April 1929 – 8 November 2000) was a Polish Communist politician who served as 51st Prime Minister of Poland from 1980 to 1981. By profession Pińkowski was an economist. In 1971 he became a member of the central commi ...
resigns, and is replaced by General
Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party b ...
. * February 14
Stardust fire The Stardust fire was a fatal fire which took place at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February (Valentine's Day) 1981. Some 800 people had attended a disco there, of whom 48 died and 214 were injure ...
: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in
Artane, Dublin Artane, sometimes spelt Artaine (), historically TartaineDublin, 1862: Thom's ''Almanac and Official Directory'' is a northside suburb of Dublin city, Ireland. Artane is also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Coolock. Neighbouring d ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in the early hours kills 48 people and injures 214. * February 1722
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
visits the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
. * February 23
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 Antonio Tejero Molina (born 30 April 1932) is a Spanish former Lieutenant Colonel of the Guardia Civil, and the most prominent figure in the failed coup d'état against the newly democratic Spanish government on 23 February 1981. Career Tejer ...
, with members of the
Guardia Civil The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...
, enters the
Spanish Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. It has 350 members elect ...
and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup fails after being denounced by King
Juan Carlos Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Novem ...
. * February 24 – A powerful, magnitude earthquake hits
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in
Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...
and the nearby towns of
Loutraki Loutraki ( el, Λουτράκι) is a seaside resort on the Gulf of Corinth, in Corinthia, Greece. It is located west of Athens and northeast of Corinth. Loutraki is the seat of the municipality Loutraki-Perachora-Agioi Theodoroi. The tow ...
,
Kiato Kiato ( el, Κιάτο) is a town in the northern part of Corinthia in the Peloponnese, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of Sikyona. Kiato is situated on the Gulf of Corinth, near the mouth of the river Asopos. It has much tourist activ ...
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 un ...
.


March

*
March 1 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special C ...
:
Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...
, a
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
member, begins a
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
for
political status In international law three categories of Political status are usually recognized: #Independent countries e.g.: France, Canada #Internal independent countries which are under the protection of another country in matters of defense and foreign affa ...
at
HM Prison Maze Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...
(Long Kesh) in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, dying on
May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...
, the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die. *
March 11 Events Pre-1600 * 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. * 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an military dictator
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
is sworn in as
President of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is r ...
for another 8-year term. *
March 17 Events Pre-1600 * 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. * 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...
– In Italy the Propaganda Due
Masonic lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
is discovered. *
March 19 Events Pre-1600 * 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. * 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– Two or three workers are killed and 4 injured during a ground test of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' at
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
in the United States. *
March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– The first
London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...
starts, with 7,500 runners. *
March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. *1282 &ndash ...
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan On March 30, 1981, President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the att ...
: U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; 2 police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.


April

* April 4 – UK pop group Bucks Fizz's song ''
Making Your Mind Up "Making Your Mind Up" is a song by the British pop group Bucks Fizz. It was the winner of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest, representing the , and was composed by Andy Hill and John Danter. Released in March 1981, it was Bucks Fizz's debut sing ...
'' 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 Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
. *
April 11 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
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 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
– The
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
program: Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' with
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
astronauts
John Young John Young may refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow * John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...
and
Robert Crippen Robert Laurel Crippen (born September 11, 1937) is an American retired naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and retired astronaut. He traveled into space four times: as Pilot of STS-1 in April 1981, the first Space Shuttl ...
launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on
April 14 Events Pre-1600 * 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum. * 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit. *
April 15 Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. * 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
– The first
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
bottling plant in China is opened. *
April 18 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge), Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria, Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 d ...
– A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the
Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...
at
McCoy Stadium McCoy Stadium is a former baseball stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1970 through 2020, it served as home field of the Pawtucket Red Sox (PawSox), a Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. Completed in 1942, the stadium fir ...
in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fal ...
, becomes the
longest professional baseball game The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, two teams from the Triple-A International League, played the longest game in professional baseball history. It lasted 33 innings, with 8 hours and 25 minutes of playing time. 32 innings were pla ...
in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23). *
April 26 Events Pre-1600 * 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. *1348 – Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. * 1 ...
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 Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...
and François Mitterrand.


May

* May – Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the
Jari project The Jari project was an attempt to create a tropical tree farm in Brazil for producing pulp for paper. Background The Jari project was a brainchild of US entrepreneur and billionaire Daniel K. Ludwig. In the 1950s he noticed that demand for pa ...
in the Amazon basin. *
May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
Pensions in Chile The Chile pension system (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 dictatorship, on November 4, 1980 from ...
: The new
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an pension system, based on private pension funds, begins. *
May 4 Events Pre-1600 * 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull ''Licet ecclesiae catholicae''. * 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus ar ...
– The
European Law Students' Association The European Law Students' Association (ELSA) is an international, independent, non-political, non-profit, non-governmental organisation run by and for law students. ELSA-activities comprise a large variety of academic and professional events t ...
(ELSA) was founded in Vienna by law students from Austria, West Germany, Poland and Hungary. *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
– A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects
Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...
's design for the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...
in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
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 On 13 May 1981, in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded by Mehmet Ali Ağca while he was entering the square. The Pope was struck twice and suffered severe blood loss. Ağca was apprehended immediately and ...
:
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
is shot by
Mehmet Ali Ağca Mehmet Ali Ağca (; born 9 January 1958) is a Turkish assassin who murdered left-wing journalist Abdi İpekçi on 1 February 1979, and later shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on 13 May 1981, after escaping from a Turkish prison. After serving ...
, a Turkish gunman, as he enters
St. Peter's Square Saint Peter's Square ( la, Forum Sancti Petri, it, Piazza San Pietro ,) is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighborhood ( rione) of Borgo. B ...
in
Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...
to address a general audience. The Pope recovers. *
May 15 Events Pre-1600 * 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. * 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbog ...
– A prison officer, 31-year-old
Donna Payant Donna Payant née Collins (March 22, 1950 – May 15, 1981) was a New York state corrections officer who was murdered while on duty at Green Haven Correctional Facility. She was one of 50 women serving as a Correction Officer at Green Haven Cor ...
, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer
Lemuel Smith Lemuel Warren Smith (born July 23, 1941), is an American convicted serial killer who was the first convict to kill an on-duty female corrections officer. Smith was already in prison for the murders of at least five people when he murdered priso ...
. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States. *
May 21 Events Pre-1600 * 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as ''Caesar'' to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy. * 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabi ...
François Mitterrand becomes the first socialist President of the
French Fifth Republic The Fifth Republic (french: Cinquième République) is France's current republican system of government. It was established on 4 October 1958 by Charles de Gaulle under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic.. The Fifth Republic emerged from ...
. *
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. * 1 ...
– Serial killer
Peter Sutcliffe Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder in England. *
May 25 Events Pre-1600 * 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. *240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Tol ...
– In
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...
, the
Gulf Cooperation Council The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, interg ...
is created between
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
,
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
,
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
,
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
. *
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 tak ...
– The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due. * May 30
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
President
Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...
is assassinated in Chittagong. *
May 31 Events Pre-1600 * 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. * 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat K ...
Burning of Jaffna library The burning of the Jaffna Public Library ( ta, யாழ் பொது நூலகம் எரிப்பு, ''Yāḻ potu nūlakam erippu''; Sinhala: යාපනය මහජන පුස්තකාලය ගිනිබත් කි ...
, one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.


June

* June 5 – The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
in the United States report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
seen only in patients with weakened
immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splint ...
s, the first recognized cases of AIDS. * June 6Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the
Bagmati River , "Tiger Gate") , source1_location = Shivapuri, Sundarijal, Kathmandu, Nepal , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , mouth = Confluence with Kamala River , mouth_location = Jagmohra, Bihar, India , mouth_coo ...
in
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
, India, killing between 500 and 800. *
June 7 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire). * 879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state. * 1002 – Henr ...
– The
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...
destroys
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
's
Osirak Operation Opera ( he, מבצע אופרה), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. ...
nuclear reactor killing ten Iraqi troops and a French technician. *
June 10 Events Pre-1600 * 671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock ( clepsydra) called ''Rokoku''. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu. *1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 313 – The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia. * 1325 – Ibn Battuta ...
– At the
Trooping the Colour Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed every year in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of the British Army. Similar events are held in other countries of the Commonwealth. Trooping the Colour has been a tradition of British infantry regi ...
ceremony in London, teenager
Marcus Sarjeant Marcus Simon Sarjeant (born ) is a British man who fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II as she rode down The Mall to the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London in 1981. Background Sarjeant, who was from Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkeston ...
fires 6 blank shots close to Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, startling her horse. *
June 18 Events Pre-1600 * 618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China. * 656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. * 860 – Byzantine–Rus' War: A fleet of about ...
** The
Organization of Eastern Caribbean States The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ri ...
is founded. ** The
Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational aircr ...
Stealth Fighter makes its first flight at
Groom Lake Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport ...
(
Area 51 Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force Base, the facility is officially called Homey Airport ...
), Nevada. *
June 22 Events Pre-1600 * 217 BC – Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. * 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus ...
– Iranian president
Abolhassan Banisadr Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr ( fa, سید ابوالحسن بنی‌صدر; 22 March 1933 – 9 October 2021) was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution aboli ...
is deposed. *
June 27 Events Pre-1600 * 1358 – The Republic of Ragusa is founded. *1497 – Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank are executed at Tyburn, London, England. * 1499 – Americo Vespucci, on Spanish financed trip, sights coa ...
** The first game of paintball is played, in
Henniker, New Hampshire Henniker is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, the reported total population of the town was 6,185, although the figure, 27.9% greater than the 2010 population, has been questioned by local officials. ...
, United States. ** The
E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary mu ...
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.


July

* July 1
Wonderland murders The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles, California, United States, on July 1, 1981. It is assumed that five people were targeted ...
: The
Wonderland Gang The Wonderland Gang was a group of drug dealers involved in the Los Angeles cocaine trade during the late 1970s and early 1980s; their home base was located on Wonderland Avenue in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles, California. On July 1, ...
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 Events Pre-1600 * 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. * 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolut ...
– The
Toxteth riots The Toxteth riots of July 1981 were a civil disturbance in Toxteth, inner-city Liverpool, which arose in part from long-standing tensions between the local police and the black community. They followed the Brixton riot earlier that year and we ...
in
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, England, start after a mob saves a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the Chapeltown riots in
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
start after increased racial tension. *
July 7 Events Pre-1600 * 1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks. * 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her execution. * 1520 – Spanish ''conquistad ...
– United States President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the Supreme Court of the United States. * July 9 – ''
Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...
'' is released, marking the first ''
Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...
'' and
Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...
smash hit arcade game developed by Nintendo in Japan. *
July 10 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Emperor Hadrian of Rome dies of heart failure at his residence on the bay of Naples, Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina. * 645 – Isshi Incident: Prin ...
**
Mahathir bin Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...
becomes the 4th
Prime Minister of Malaysia The prime minister of Malaysia ( ms, Perdana Menteri Malaysia; ms, ڤردان منتري مليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the fed ...
. **
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 foll ...
in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
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 dis ...
in several urban areas including
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
and
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
. *
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. * 1 ...
21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the
follow-on In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...
when they beat Australia by 18 runs at
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
cricket ground, Leeds, England. *
July 17 Events Pre-1600 * 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. *1048 – Damasu ...
**
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse On July 17, 1981, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, suffered the structural collapse of two overhead walkways. Loaded with partygoers, the concrete and glass platforms cascaded down, crashing onto a tea dance in the lobby, killi ...
: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114. **
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i aircraft bomb
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO 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 Events Pre-1600 *AD 64 – The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city. * 484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is ...
– The
1981 Springbok Tour The 1981 South African rugby tour (known in New Zealand as the Springbok Tour, and in South Africa as the Rebel Tour) polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The controversy also extended to the United States, wh ...
commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
. *
July 21 Events Pre-1600 * 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson. * 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. After being exiled to Sardinia, he became t ...
Panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...
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 fr ...
is born in
Chapultepec Zoo Chapultepec Zoo (Spanish: ''Zoológico de Chapultepec'') is a zoo located in Chapultepec Park; it is one of four zoos near Mexico City, and the best known Mexican zoo. It was founded July 6, 1923 by Mexican biologist Alfonso Luis Herrera using ...
in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China. *
July 29 Events Pre-1600 * 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. * 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. * 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo ...
– A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the
Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer The wedding of the Prince of Wales (future King Charles III) and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was ...
at St Paul's Cathedral 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 Islan ...
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 Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
to protest about food ration shortages in
Communist Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...
.


August

*
August 1 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. *AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under ...
– The first 24-hour video music channel MTV (Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, ''
Video Killed the Radio Star "Video Killed the Radio Star" is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1979. It was recorded concurrently by Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club (with Thomas Dolby on keyboards) for their album '' English Garden'' an ...
'' by
The Buggles The Buggles were an English new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single " Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK Singles Cha ...
. *
August 9 Events Pre-1600 *48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt. * 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens ...
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, but ...
ends in the United States, and
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
resumes with the
All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...
in
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
's Municipal Stadium. *
August 12 Events Pre-1600 *1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade. * 1121 – B ...
– The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz
Intel 8088 The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and ...
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:
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
n president Muammar Gaddafi sends two
Sukhoi Su-22 The Sukhoi Su-17 (''izdeliye'' S-32) is a variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber developed for the Soviet military. Its NATO reporting name is "Fitter". Developed from the Sukhoi Su-7, the Su-17 was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to enter ...
fighter jets to intercept two U.S. Navy fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The U.S. jets destroy the Libyan fighters. *
August 23 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, the eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Cae ...
– South African troops attack SWAPO 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 ...
and
Ongiva Ondjiva, formerly Vila Pereira d'Eça, is a town, with a population of 121,537 (2014), and a Communes of Angola, commune in the municipality of Cuanhama, province of Cunene Province, Cunene, Angola. It is also the administrative capital of Cunene ...
,
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
, 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 Events Pre-1600 * 367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. * 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. ...
Mark David Chapman Mark David Chapman (born May 10, 1955) is an American man who murdered former Beatles member John Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980. As Lennon walked into the archway of his apartment building at The Dakota, Chapman shot Lennon from a ...
is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
eight months earlier. *
August 27 Events Pre-1600 * 410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days. * 1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. *1232 – Shikken Hojo Yasutoki of the K ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Titus ends the siege of Jerusalem after destroying Herod's Temple. * 1282 – Peter III of Aragon lands at Trapani to intervene in the War of the Sicilian Vespers. *1363 – The five-week Battle of Lake ...
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 The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...
, explodes in the building. *
August 31 Events Pre-1600 * 1056 – After a sudden illness a few days previously, Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty. * 1057 – Abdication of Byzantine Emperor Michael VI Bringas after just one year ...
– A bomb explodes at the United States Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, injuring 20 people.


September

* September 1 – Gregorio Conrado Álvarez is inaugurated as a military List of Presidents of Uruguay, de facto President of Uruguay. * September 4 – An List of accidents and disasters by death toll#Coal mine disasters, explosion at a mine in Záluží (Beroun District), Záluží, Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people. * September 7 – British plantation company, Guthrie (company), Guthrie was taken over by the Government of Malaysia, Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'. * September 10 – Picasso's painting ''Guernica (Picasso), Guernica'' is moved from New York to Madrid. * September 15 ** Our Lady of Akita in Japan cries for the last time, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. ** The ''John Bull (locomotive), John Bull'' becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C. * September 17 – Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes to win his first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City. * September 18 – France's National Assembly votes to abolish Capital punishment in France. * September 19 – Solidarity Day march, in support of organized labor, draws approximately 250,000 people in Washington, D.C. * September 20 – The overcrowded ferry boat ''Sobral Santos II'' capsizes in the Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300 people. * September 21 – Belize, formerly British Honduras, gains its independence from the United Kingdom. * September 25 – Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. * September 26 ** The Boeing 767 airliner makes its first flight. ** The Sydney Tower opens to the public in Australia. * September 27 – TGV high-speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France, begins. * September 27–September 29, 29 – Iran–Iraq War: Iranian forces break the Siege of Abadan in Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh.


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. * October 14 – 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 Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Islamic Jihad organization led by Khalid Islambouli and oppose his negotiations with
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. * 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. * October 22 – The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organisation (Hareram Sharma), Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D. P. Singh begins. * October 27 – Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground outside the Karlskrona, Sweden, military base, leading to a minor international incident.


November

* November 1 – Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom. * November 9 – Slavery in Mauritania is abolished by Edict No. 81-234. * November 12 – The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders. * November 22 – The Edmonton Eskimos (14-1-1) barely stave off defeat and win a record 4th consecutive Grey Cup in the Canadian Football League, at the 69th Grey Cup at Montréal's Olympic Stadium defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders (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 signs the Classified information, top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contras, Contra rebels in Nicaragua. ** 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history. * November 25–November 26, 26 – 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt: A group of Mercenary, mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahé, Seychelles, Mahe airport. Most of them escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested.


December

* December 1 – An Adria Airways, Inex-Adria Aviopromet McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, strikes a mountain peak and crashes while approaching Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport, Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board. * December 4 – South Africa grants Ciskei independence, not recognized outside South Africa. * December 7 – Rotary International charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie, Mauritius. * December 8 ** The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13. ** Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain). * December 10 – During the Ministerial Session of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Spain signs the Enlargement of NATO, Protocol of Accession to NATO. * December 11 ** Boxing: Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick; this proves to be Ali's last-ever fight. ** El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians. * December 13 –
Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski (; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military officer, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party b ...
declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity. * December 15 – A car bomb destroys the
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
i Embassy in
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon, killing 61 people; Syrian intelligence is blamed. * December 17 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier 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, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia. * December 31 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President of Ghana, President Hilla Limann's People's National Party (Ghana), PNP Limann government, government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council, PNDC led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.


Date unknown

* January to March – :ja:五六豪雪, Heavy snow causes many houses and buildings to collapse in northwestern Japan; 152 are killed. * Cuba suffers a major outbreak of dengue fever, with 344,203 cases. * Use of crack cocaine, a smokeable form of the drug, first reported in the United States and Caribbean. * Luxor AB presents the ABC 800 computer. * Polybius (urban legend), Polybius, 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 lists the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou 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 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
** 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 – ** Jared Kushner, American investor ** Chris Pozniak, Canadian footballer * January 11 – Jamelia, British singer * January 15 ** 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 ** Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born English footballer ** Jason Richardson, American basketball player *
January 21 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
– Izabella Miko, Polish actress and dancer * January 25 ** Alicia Keys, American singer, pianist and actress ** Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007) * January 26 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan conductor * January 27 ** 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 ** Paulien van Deutekom, Dutch speed skater (d. 2019) ** Fahmi Fadzil, Malaysian politician * February 5 – Nora Zehetner, American actress *
February 8 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. *1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir. * 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al ...
** Dawn Olivieri, American actress ** Jim Parrack, American actor *
February 9 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. *1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
– 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 ** Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor and film director ** Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite * February 18 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player * February 23 – Josh Gad, American actor, comedian, and singer * February 24 – 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 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. * 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
– Matthias Schweighöfer, German actor, director and producer * March 13 – Olena Kot, Ukrainian journalists. * March 15 – Young Buck, American rapper *
March 17 Events Pre-1600 * 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. * 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of ei ...
– Kyle Korver, American basketball player * March 18 ** Fabian Cancellara, Swiss road bicycle racer *
March 19 Events Pre-1600 * 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire. * 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen en ...
– Kolo Touré, Ivorian football player * March 26 – Luke Ford, Canadian-Australian actor * March 28 ** Dan Petronijevic, Canadian actor ** Julia Stiles, American actress *
March 29 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. *1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi. *1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: Franco-Ferrare ...
**Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model **Luis Flores (basketball), Luis Flores, Dominican basketball player * April 16 - Russell Harvard, deaf American actor *
April 18 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge), Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria, Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 d ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. *1348 – Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. * 1 ...
– Matthieu Delpierre, French football player * April 28 – Jessica Alba, American actress and businesswoman * April 29 – Kunal Nayyar, British-Indian actor


May

*
May 1 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
– Alexander Hleb, Belarusian football player *
May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty. * 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbog ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as ''Caesar'' to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy. * 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabi ...
– 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. * 1 ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. *240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Tol ...
– 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 tak ...
– 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 – Sébastien Lefebvre, Canadian musician (Simple Plan) *
June 7 Events Pre-1600 * 421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire). * 879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state. * 1002 – Henr ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 313 – The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia. * 1325 – Ibn Battuta ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China. * 656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. * 860 – Byzantine–Rus' War: A fleet of about ...
– Ella Chen, Taiwanese singer * June 21 ** Simon Delestre, French equestrian ** Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist * June 23 – 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 Events Pre-1600 * 1358 – The Republic of Ragusa is founded. *1497 – Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank are executed at Tyburn, London, England. * 1499 – Americo Vespucci, on Spanish financed trip, sights coa ...
– 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 ** Orlando Cruz, Puerto Rican boxer ** Tim Reddy, International Man of Mystery *
July 3 Events Pre-1600 * 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. * 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolut ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world. *1048 – Damasu ...
– Mélanie Thierry, French actress * July 18 – Michiel Huisman, Dutch actor, musician and singer-songwriter *
July 19 Events Pre-1600 *AD 64 – The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city. * 484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is ...
– Nikki Osborne, Australian actress *
July 21 Events Pre-1600 * 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson. * 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. After being exiled to Sardinia, he became t ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. * 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. * 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo ...
– 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 Islan ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 *48 BC – Caesar's Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt. * 378 – Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens ...
– Li Jiawei, Singaporean Olympic table tennis player * August 10 ** Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress ** Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player *
August 12 Events Pre-1600 *1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade. * 1121 – B ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. * 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. ...
– Chad Michael Murray, American actor * August 25 – Rachel Bilson, American actress *
August 27 Events Pre-1600 * 410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days. * 1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. *1232 – Shikken Hojo Yasutoki of the K ...
– 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 – 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 – 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 ** 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 January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
** 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 ** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa. * 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when ...
– Allyn Joslyn, American actor (b. 1901) * January 23 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910) * January 25 – Adele Astaire, American actress (b. 1896) * January 27 – 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 – 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 Events Pre-1600 * 474 – Zeno is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. * 1003 – Boleslaus III is restored to authority with armed support from Bolesław I the Brave of Poland. *1539 – The first recorded race is held ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 *509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. * 293 – Emperor Diocletian ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 222 – Roman emperor Elagabalus is murdered alongside his mother, Julia Soaemias. He is replaced by his 14-year old cousin, Severus Alexander. * 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the ven ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving. * 1430 – The Ottoman Empire under Murad II captures Thessalonica from the Republic of ...
– Eric Williams, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911) *
March 30 Events Pre-1600 * 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro- Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague. *1282 &ndash ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. * 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. * 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to ...
** Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914) ** Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892) * April 13 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887) *
April 15 Events Pre-1600 * 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings. * 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscar ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge), Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria, Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 d ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux. *1348 – Czech king Karel IV founds the Charles University in Prague, which was later named after him and was the first university in Central Europe. * 1 ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 305 – Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor. * 880 – The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. *1169 – N ...
– Barry Jones (actor), Barry Jones, American actor (b. 1893) * May 3 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929) *
May 5 Events Pre-1600 * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. *1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. *1260 – Kub ...
Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...
, Irish republican hunger striker (b. 1954) *
May 6 Events Pre-1600 * 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance. * 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Sp ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as ''Caesar'' to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy. * 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabi ...
– 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. * 1 ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. *240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. * 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Tol ...
** 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 ** Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955) ** Peter Lindgren (actor), Peter Lindgren, Swedish actor (b. 1915) **
Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...
, 7th President of Bangladesh (b. 1936) *
May 31 Events Pre-1600 * 455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome. * 1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat K ...
** 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 – Miguel Contreras Torres, Mexican actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1899) *
June 10 Events Pre-1600 * 671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock ( clepsydra) called ''Rokoku''. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu. *1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 313 – The decisions of the Edict of Milan, signed by Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius, granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire, are published in Nicomedia. * 1325 – Ibn Battuta ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 217 BC – Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. * 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus ...
** Henri Bouillard, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1908) ** Lane Sisters, Lola Lane, American actress and singer (b. 1906) * June 23 – 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 ** Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-born American architect (b. 1902) ** George Voskovec, Czech-American actor, writer, dramatist and director (b. 1905) *
July 3 Events Pre-1600 * 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium. * 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolut ...
– Ross Martin, American actor (b. 1920) *
July 7 Events Pre-1600 * 1124 – The city of Tyre falls to the Venetian Crusade after a siege of nineteen weeks. * 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her execution. * 1520 – Spanish ''conquistad ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 138 – Emperor Hadrian of Rome dies of heart failure at his residence on the bay of Naples, Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina. * 645 – Isshi Incident: Prin ...
– 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. * 1 ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. * 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. * 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo ...
– Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888) * July 31 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian leader (b. 1929)


August

*
August 1 Events Pre-1600 *30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. *AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under ...
** 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 Events Pre-1600 * 410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days. * 1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. *1232 – Shikken Hojo Yasutoki of the K ...
– 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 Events Pre-1600 * 70 – Titus ends the siege of Jerusalem after destroying Herod's Temple. * 1282 – Peter III of Aragon lands at Trapani to intervene in the War of the Sicilian Vespers. *1363 – The five-week Battle of Lake ...
** 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 ** 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 ** 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 – 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 ** Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909) ** Karl Struss, American cinematographer (b. 1886) * December 17 ** 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,