Chronology of World History (1981) (original) (raw)

January 8

• Pirates of Penzance opens at Uris Theater in New York City, New York for 772 performances. [1]
• Stack's sells Brasher doubloon of Yale University for US$650,000. [568.58] [769.78]
• Disneyland welcomes its 200-millionth guest, Gert Schelvis. [6]

January 9

• Francisco Balsamao elected President of Portugal. [1]

January 10

• El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "general offensive". [1]

January 11

• Palau adopts constitution. [1]

January 13

• Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to May Swenson and Howard Nemerov. [1]

January 16

• Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband. [1] [119]

January 17

• Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos lifts Martial Law. [1] [119]

January 18

• Iran accepts US offer of US$7.9 billion in frozen assets for the release of hostages. [1]

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January 19

• In Irian Jaya, Indonesia, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. Three hundred five people killed, some injured and about 1,000 missing in the Jayawijaya Mountains. [53]
• United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity. [1] [119]

January 20

• Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter, becoming the 40th President of the United States. [1] [119] [474.100]
• Minutes after Ronald Reagan takes office as US President, the United States frees almost US$8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, ending the Iran hostage crisis. [119] [129] [861.246]

January 21

• The first De Lorean DMC-12 automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. [119]

January 22

• Fowzi Nejad, sole survivor of the terrorists from the Iranian Embassy siege in London, pleads guilty to manslaughter of two hostages and is jailed for life. [119]

January 23

• In Sichuan Province, China, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. One hundred fifty people killed, 300 injured and extensive damage in the Dawu area. [53]

January 24

• The British Labour Party special conference at Wembley decides that leadership elections should be by electoral college. [119]

January 25

• Four former British Labour cabinet ministers (Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, William Rodgers and David Owen) issue the Limehouse Declaration, leading to the formation of the Social Democratic Party. [119]
• Chiang Ching ('Madame Mao') is sentenced to death in the People's Republic of China. [1] [119]
• 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrive back in US. [1]

January 27

• Indonesian passenger ship Tamponas 2 catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580. [119]

January 28

• Olympic Glory oil tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills one million gallons of oil in a ship collision. [1]

February 1

• French government accord sends 60 Mirage fighter jets to Iraq. [1]

February 4

• Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes the Prime Minister of Norway. [119]

February 6

• Ex-Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison record a tribute to John Lennon. [1]

February 8

• Operation Pipe Wrench begins, as the US government begins transfer of 56 tons (1.633 million troy ounces) of gold on three tractor-trailers from New York Assay Office to the Bank of England, as ransom payment to Iran for the release of hostages. [671.3]
• Nineteen fans of Olympiacos FC and two fans of AEK Athens are killed and 54 injured after a stampede at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Pireus, possibly because Gate 7 did not open immediately after the end of the game. [119]

February 9

• Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski. [119] (February 11 [1])

February 10

• A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198. [1] [119]

February 12

• Cape Verde amends its constitution. [1]

February 13

• Rupert Murdoch buys The Times and The Sunday Times for £12 million. [119]

February 14

• Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. [119]
• A fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland in the early hours kills 48 and injures 214. [119]

February 17

• Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate loss in US history. [1]

February 21

• Japan launches Hinotori satellite to study solar flares (580/640 k). [1]

February 23

• Spanish coup under Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina fails. [1]
• Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup d'état fails thanks to King Juan Carlos. [119]

February 24

• Britain's Prince Charles announces engagement to Lady Diana Spencer. [1]
• In Greece, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. Sixteen people killed, more than 400 injured, and considerable damage in the Athens-Corinth area. [53] [119]

February 25

• L Calvo Sotelo elected premier of Spain. [1]

February 26

• Three Anglican missionaries, detained in Iran since August 1980, are released. [1]
• French Train à Grande Vitesse averages 380 kph on trial run. [1]
• Munabi, assistant to Ugandan President Obote, is murdered. [1]

February 28

• People's Republic of China throws out Netherlands ambassador due to submarine sale to Taiwan. [1]

March 1

• Bobby Sands, a Provisional Irish Republican Army member, begins a hunger strike for political status in Long Kesh prison (he dies May 5, the first of ten men). [1] [119]

March 2

• Aircraft hijacked by three Pakistani terrorists. [1]

March 6

• France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
• After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time. [1] [5] [119]

March 10

• Sir Geoffrey Howe announces the British budget, which raises taxes in the middle of a recession. [119]

March 11

• Chile constitution takes effect; military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President for another 8-year term. [1] [119]

March 12

• Walter R T Witschey installs world's largest sundial in Richmond, Virginia. [1] [5]
• Soyuz T-4 carries two cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station. [1]

March 13

• In Mexico City, a construction worker unearths a 10-inch long, 4-pound chunk of gold, believed to be the first item ever recovered from the Montezuma treasure of 1520. [645.23]

March 15

• Suriname failed coup under Sergeant-Major Wilfred Hawker. [1]

March 17

• In Italy the Propaganda Due Masonic Lodge is discovered. [119]

March 20

• Argentine ex-President Isabel Perón sentenced to 8 years in prison. [1]

March 22

• Soyuz 39 carries two cosmonauts (one Mongolian) to Salyut 6. [1]

March 24

• Colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba. [1]

March 26

• Police and Albanian demonstrators battle in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. [1]
• The British Social Democratic Party is launched at the Connaught Rooms in London. [119]

March 28

• France performs nuclear test. [1]

March 29

• USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]

March 30

• US President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., hotel. Six shots are fired, hitting Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahaney. None is killed. (Suspect John Hinckley Junior is later found not guilty by reason of insanity.) [1] [119] [129] [1096.145]