1981 In The United Kingdom

Events from the year 1981 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch – Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
*Parliament – 48th

Events

January

* 3 January – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, dies at Kensington Palace aged 97.
* 4 January – British Leyland workers vote to accept a peace formula in the Longbridge plant strike.
* 5 January
** Peter Sutcliffe, a 34-year-old lorry driver from Bradford arrested on 2 January in Sheffield, is charged with being the notorious serial killer known as the "Yorkshire Ripper", who is believed to have murdered thirteen women and attacked seven others across northern England since 1975.
** BBC Two's ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' television adaptation begins airing; it subsequently receives a Royal Television Society award as "Most Original Programme" of the year.
** Cabinet reshuffle: Norman St John-Stevas and Angus Maude leave the Cabinet while Leon Brittan and Norman Fowler join the Cabinet.
* 7 January – A parcel bomb addressed to the Prime Minister is intercepted at the sorting office.
* 8 January
** A terrorist bomb attack takes place on the RAF base at Uxbridge
** The report of the Royal Commission on criminal procedure is published.
* 9 January – The funeral of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, before her burial at Frogmore.
* 13 January – The prison officers' overtime ban ends.
* 14 January – The British Nationality Bill is published.
* 15 January – Two soldiers are found guilty of murder in Northern Ireland.
* 16 January
** Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP Bernadette McAliskey is shot at her home in County Tyrone.
** Inflation has fallen to 16.1%.
** 78% of British Steel Corporation workers vote in favour of the chairman's "survival" plan.
* 18 January – Ten people are killed in the New Cross house fire. On 25 January, another victim dies in hospital.
* 21 January
** Sir Norman Stronge and his son, both former Stormont MPs, are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
** Two divers trapped below the North Sea are brought to safety to the surface.
* 22 January – Australian newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch agrees to buy ''The Times'' provided an agreement can be reached with the unions.
* 24 January – A Labour Party conference at Wembley votes for election of the party leader by electoral college with 40% votes for unions, 30% Labour MPs and 30% constituencies.
* 25 January – The Limehouse Declaration: four right-wing Labour MPs, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen (the "Gang of Four"), announce plans to form a separate political party – the Social Democratic Party (SDP). On 26 January, nine more Labour MPs declare their support for the new party.
* 26 January – Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Industry, announces further financial support for British Leyland.
* 27 January – Bill Rodgers resigns from the Shadow Cabinet following his defection to the newly formed SDP. He is replaced by Tony Benn.
* 28 January
** Sir Hugh Fraser is removed as Chairman of the House of Fraser.
** Fresh damage is caused in cells at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland.
* 29 January – The UK Government welcomes plans by the Japanese car firm Nissan to build Datsun cars in Britain.
* 30 January – David Owen tells his constituency party that he will not stand again as Labour candidate.

February

* 2 February – The report on the Brixton prison escape is released and the Governor is transferred to an administrative post.
* 4 February – Margaret Thatcher announces that the Government will sell half of its shares in British Aerospace.
* 5 February – Actor Lord Olivier, cancer researcher Sir Peter Medawar and humanitarian Leonard Cheshire are admitted into the Order of Merit as announced in the New Year Honours list.
* 6 February
** The Liverpool-registered coal ship ''Nellie M'' is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat in Lough Foyle.
** The Government drops two controversial clauses of the Nationality Bill.
** The Canadian Minister warns British MPs against delaying changes in the Canadian constitution.
* 9 February – Shirley Williams resigns from Labour's national executive committee.
* 11 February – Closure of the Talbot car plant in Linwood, Scotland, is announced.
* 12 February
** Purchase of ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' from The Thomson Corporation by Rupert Murdoch's News International is confirmed. Murdoch also announces that an agreement with the unions has been reached about manning levels and new technology.
** Ian Paisley is suspended from the House of Commons for four days after calling the Northern Ireland Secretary a liar.
** The National Union of Students calls off a 5-week strike.
* 13 February – The National Coal Board announces widespread pit closures.
* 15 February – The first Sunday games of the Football League take place.
* 16 February – Two are jailed in connection with the death of industrialist Thomas Niedermayer.
* 17 February – Princess Anne is elected Chancellor of London University.
* 18 February
** The Government withdraws plans to close 23 mines after negotiations with the National Union of Mineworkers.
** Harold Evans is appointed editor of ''The Times''
* 20 February
** Four more MPs announce their intention to leave the Labour Party.
** Peter Sutcliffe is charged with the murder of thirteen women in the north of England.
* 21 February – 30,000 people march in an unemployment protest in Glasgow.
* 24 February – The engagement of the 32-year-old Prince of Wales (now Charles III), and 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer is officially announced.
* 25 February
** Margaret Thatcher arrives in Washington, D.C., for a four-day visit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
** ''The Observer'' is taken over by "Tiny" Rowland, head of Lonrho.
* 26 February
** The English cricket team withdraws from the Second Test after the Guyanese government serves a deportation order on Robin Jackman.
** El Salvador dominates the first day of talks between Thatcher and Reagan.
* 27 February
** Three British missionaries released from Iran land in Athens.
** Sir Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister (1964–70, 1974–76) announces his retirement from Parliament at the next general election.
** The Archbishop of Canterbury advises the church to see homosexuality as a handicap not a sin.
** The ''Observer'' takeover is referred to the Monopolies Commission.

March

* 3 March – Homebase opens its first DIY and garden centre superstore, at Croydon, Surrey.
* 5 March – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research, going on to sell over 1.5 million units worldwide.
* 9 March
** John Lambe, a 37-year-old lorry driver, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of twelve women in the space of less than four years.
** Thousands of civil servants hold a one-day strike over pay.
* 17 March – The Conservative Government's budget is met with uproar due to further public spending cuts.
* 21 March
** Home Secretary William Whitelaw allows Wolverhampton council to place a fourteen-day ban on political marches in the West Midlands town, which has a growing problem of militant race riots and was faced with the threat of a National Front march in two days time.
** After seven years and the longest time playing the title role, Tom Baker leaves '' Doctor Who'' and is replaced by Peter Davison in the final episode of '' Logopolis''.
** Unemployment now stands at 2,400,000 or 10% of the workforce.
** Motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood, known as 'Mike the Bike' and fourteen times winner of the Isle of Man TT, is seriously injured in a car crash at Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire; he dies of his injuries two days later.
* 22 March – It is reported that a minority of Conservative MPs are planning to challenge the leadership of Margaret Thatcher in an attempt to reverse the party's declining popularity and fight off the challenge from Labour and the SDP.
* 23 March – The Government imposes a ban on animal transportation on the Isle of Wight and southern Hampshire after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle.
* 24 March – Barbados police rescue Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs after his kidnapping in Brazil.
* 26 March – Social Democratic Party formed by the so-called "Gang of Four": Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen, who have all defected from the Labour Party.
* 28 March – Enoch Powell, Ulster Unionist MP (formerly a Conservative until 1974) warns of "racial civil war" in Britain.
* 29 March – The first London Marathon is held.
* 30 March – Academy Award-winning film ''Chariots of Fire'' released.

April

* 2 April – The effects of the recession continue to claim jobs as Midland Red, the iconic Birmingham-based bus operator, closes down its headquarters in the city with the loss of some 170 jobs.
* 4 April
** Bucks Fizz representing the United Kingdom win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ''Making Your Mind Up''.
** Susan Brown, a 23-year-old Biology student at Oxford University, becomes the first female cox in a winning Boat Race crew.
** Bob Champion, a 32-year-old cancer survivor, is the popular winner of the Grand National with his horse Aldaniti.
* 5 April – The 1981 UK Census is conducted.
* 10 April – Bobby Sands, an IRA member on hunger strike in the Maze prison, Northern Ireland, is elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by election.
* 11 April – More than 300 people (most of them police officers) are injured and extensive damage is caused to property in the Brixton riot.
* 13 April
** Home Secretary William Whitelaw announces a public inquiry, to be conducted by Lord Scarman, into the disturbances in Brixton.
** Enoch Powell warns that Britain "has seen nothing yet" with regards to racial unrest.
** Further rioting breaks out in Brixton.
* 20 April
** 23-year-old Steve Davis wins the World Snooker Championship for the first time.
** More than 100 people are arrested and 15 police officers are injured in clashes with black youths in the Finsbury Park, Forest Green and Ealing areas of London.
* 21 April – The county administrative headquarters of Northumberland move from Newcastle upon Tyne to Morpeth.
* 23 April – Unemployment passes the 2,500,000 mark for the first time in nearly 50 years.
* 29 April – Peter Sutcliffe admits to the manslaughter of 13 women on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but the judge rules that a jury should rule on Sutcliffe's state of mind before deciding whether to accept his plea or find him guilty of murder.

May

* May – Peugeot closes the Talbot car plant at Linwood, Scotland which was opened by the Rootes Group 18 years ago as Scotland's only car factory. The closure of the factory also results in the end of the last remaining Rootes-developed product, the Avenger, after 11 years, as well as the four-year-old Sunbeam supermini. There are no plans to replace the Avenger, but a French-built small car based on the Peugeot 104 will replace the Sunbeam in the next few months.
* 5 May
** Bobby Sands, a 27-year-old republican, dies in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison after a 66-day hunger strike.
** The trial of Peter Sutcliffe begins at the Old Bailey; he stands charged with 13 murders and seven attempted murders dating back to 1975.
* 7 May – Ken Livingstone becomes leader of the GLC after Labour wins the GLC elections.
* 9 May – The 100th FA Cup final ends with a 1–1 draw between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium.
* 11 May – The first performance of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical '' Cats'' takes place at the New London Theatre.
* 12 May – Francis Hughes (aged 25) becomes the second IRA hunger striker to die in Northern Ireland.
* 13 May – An inquest returns an open verdict on the thirteen people who died as a result of their injuries in the New Cross fire.
* 14 May – Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for the sixth time in their history with a 3–2 win over Manchester City in the final replay at Wembley.
* 15 May
** The inquiry into the Brixton riots opens.
** the Queen's second grandchild, a girl, is born to The Princess Anne and her husband Capt Mark Phillips.
* 19 May – Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper after admitting 13 charges of murder and a further seven of attempted murder. He will be sentenced later this week.
* 21 May – The IRA hunger strike death toll reaches four with the deaths of Raymond McCreesh and Patrick O'Hara.
* 22 May – Peter Sutcliffe is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should serve at least 30 years before parole can be considered.
* 27 May – Liverpool F.C. win the European Cup for the third time by defeating Real Madrid of Spain 1–0 in the final at Parc des Princes in Paris. Alan Kennedy scores the only goal of the game. Although they have yet to equal Spanish side Real Madrid's record of six European Cups, they are the first British side to win the trophy three times.
* 30 May – More than 100,000 people from across Britain march to Trafalgar Square in London for the TUC's March For Jobs.

June

* 3 June – Shergar wins the Epsom Derby.
* 9 June – King Khaled of Saudi Arabia arrives in Britain on a state visit.
* 11 June
**The NatWest Tower (later known as Tower 42) is formally opened by the Queen.
**Britain's first Urban Enterprise Zone is created in Lower Swansea Valley, Wales.
* 13 June – Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank cartridges at the Queen as she enters Horse Guards Parade.
* 13–14 June – More than 80 arrests are made during clashes between white power skinheads and black people in Coventry, where the National Front is planning a march later this month, on the same day as an anti-racist concert by The Specials.
* 15 June – Lord Scarman opens an enquiry into the Brixton riots.
* 16 June – Liberal Party and SDP form an electoral pact – the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
* 17 June – General and war hero Sir Richard O'Connor dies in London shortly before his 92nd birthday.
* 20 June
** Rioting breaks out in Peckham, South London.
** HMS ''Ark Royal'' is launched.
* 21 June – A fire at Goodge Street tube station kills one person and injures 16.
* 23 June – Unemployment reaches 2,680,977 (one in nine of the workforce), and Margaret Thatcher is warned that a further rise is likely.
* 24 June – The twelfth James Bond film – '' For Your Eyes Only'' – is released in UK cinemas. It is the fifth of seven films to star Roger Moore as James Bond and the final Bond film to be solely distributed by United Artists.

July

* 2 July – Four members of an Asian Muslim family (three of them children) are killed by arson at their home in Walthamstow, London; the attack is believed to have been racially motivated.
* 3 July – Hundreds of Asians and skinheads riot in Southall, London, following disturbances at the Hamborough Tavern public house, which is severely damaged by fire.
* 5 July – Toxteth riots break out in Liverpool and first use is made of CS gas by British police. Less serious riots occur in the Handsworth district of Birmingham as well as Wolverhampton city centre, parts of Coventry, Leicester and Derby, and also in the Buckinghamshire town High Wycombe.
* 7 July – 43 people are charged with theft and violent disorder following a riot in Wood Green, North London.
* 8 July
** Joe McDonnell becomes the fifth IRA hunger striker to die.
** Inner-city rioting continues when a riot in Moss Side, Manchester, sees more than 1,000 people besiege the local police station. However, the worst rioting in Toxteth has now ended.
** British Leyland ends production of the Austin Maxi, one of its longest-running cars, after 12 years.
* 9 July – Rioting breaks out in Woolwich, London.
* 10 July
** Rioting breaks out in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Ellesmere Port, Luton, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Preston, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Derby, Southampton, Nottingham, High Wycombe, Bedford, Edinburgh, Wolverhampton, Stockport, Blackburn, Huddersfield, Reading, Chester and Aldershot.
** Two days of rioting in Moss Side, Manchester, draw to a close, during which there has been extensive looting of shops. Princess Road, the main road through the area, will be closed for several days while adjacent buildings and gas mains damaged by rioting and arson are made safe.
* 11 July – A further wave of rioting breaks out in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
* 13 July
** The IRA hunger strike death toll reaches six when Martin Hurson dies.
** Margaret Thatcher announces that police will be able to use rubber bullets, water cannons and armoured vehicles against urban rioters. Labour leader Michael Foot blames the recent wave of rioting on the Conservative government's economic policies, which have seen unemployment rise by more than 70% in the last two years.
* 15 July – Police clash with black youths in Brixton once again, this time after police raid properties in search of petrol bombs which are never found.
* 16 July – Labour narrowly hang on to the Warrington seat in a by-election, fighting off a strong challenge from Roy Jenkins for the Social Democratic Party.
* 17 July – Official opening of the Humber Bridge by the Queen.
* 20 July – Michael Heseltine tours Merseyside to examine the problems in the area, which has been particularly badly hit by the current recession.
* 25 July – Around 1,000 motorcyclists clash with police in Keswick, Cumbria.
* 27 July
** British Telecommunications Act separates British Telecom from the Royal Mail with effect from 1 October.
** The two-month-old daughter of The Princess Anne and her husband Capt Mark Phillips is christened Zara Anne Elizabeth.
* 28 July – Margaret Thatcher blames IRA leaders for the recent IRA hunger striker deaths.
* 29 July – The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer takes place at St Paul's Cathedral. More than 30 million viewers watch the wedding on television – the second highest television audience of all time in Britain.

August

* Unknown date – Japanese carmaker Suzuki follows up the British success of its motorcycles by importing passenger cars to Britain for the first time, with first imported model being the Suzuki Alto, a small hatchback available with three or five doors and marketed as a competitor for the Mini and Citroen 2CV.
* 1 August – Kevin Lynch becomes the seventh IRA hunger striker to die.
* 2 August – Within 24 hours of Kevin Lynch's death, Kieran Doherty becomes the eighth IRA hunger striker to die.
* 8 August – The IRA hunger strike claims its ninth hunger striker so far (and its third in a week) with the death of Thomas McElwee.
* 9 August – Broadmoor Hospital falls under heavy criticism after the escape of a second prisoner in three weeks. The latest absconder is 32-year-old Alan Reeve, a convicted double murderer.
* 17 August – An inquiry opens in the Moss Side riots.
* 20 August
** The tenth IRA hunger striker, Michael Devine, dies in prison.
** Inflation has fallen to 10.9% – the lowest under this government.
** Minimum Lending Rate ceases to be set by the Bank of England.
* 24 August – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for killing John Lennon.
* 25 August – Britain's largest Enterprise Zone is launched on deindustrialised land on Tyneside.
* 26 August – Vauxhall launches the second generation Cavalier, built on General Motors J-Car platform, available for the first time with front-wheel drive and a hatchback.
* 27 August – Moira Stuart
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