1981 Explained

1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar).

Events of 1981

January

• January - The subterranean Sarawak chamber is discovered in Borneo.
• January 1 - Greece enters the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.

• January 1 - Palau becomes self-governing.
• January 4 - Sheffield police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, a 34-year-old lorry driver, on suspicion of being the Yorkshire Ripper who has killed 13 women and attacked 7 others over the last 6 years.
• January 5 - Margaret Thatcher carries out a Cabinet reshuffle, sacking Norman St. John-Stevas.
• January 6 - The Brazilian double decker boat Novo Amapo capsizes in the Amazon River, Belem de Cajari, Macapa, Brazil; 230 are killed.
• January 16 - Protestant gunmen shoot and wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey and her husband.
• January 17 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law.
• January 19 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
• January 20 - Ronald Reagan succeeds Jimmy Carter, as the 40th President of the United States. Minutes later, Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, ending the Iran hostage crisis.
• 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.
• January 22 - Fowzi Nejad, sole survivor of the terrorists from the Iranian Embassy siege in London, pleads guilty to manslaughter of 2 hostages and gets jailed for life.
• January 24 - The British Labour Party special conference at Wembley decides that leadership elections should be by electoral college.
• January 25 - Four former 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.
• January 25 - Chiang Ching ('Madame Mao') is sentenced to death in the People's Republic of China.
• January 25 - Super Bowl XV: The Oakland Raiders defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• January 27 - The Indonesian passenger ship Tamponas 2 catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580.

February

• February 4 - Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes Prime Minister of Norway.
• February 8 - 19 fans of Olympiacos FC and 2 fans of AEK Athens die, and 54 are injured, after a stampede at the Karaiskaki Stadium in Pireus, possibly because Gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game.
• February 9 - Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
• February 10 - A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills 8 and injures 198.
• February 13 - Rupert Murdoch buys The Times and The Sunday Times for £12 million.
• February 14 - Stardust fire: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland in the early hours kills 48 and injures 214.
• February 14 - Australia withdraws recognition of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
• February 23 - 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.
• February 24 - A powerful, magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Athens, killing 16 people, injuring thousands and destroying several buildings, mostly in Corinth and the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylokastro.

March

• 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 10 men).
• March 6 - After 19 years hosting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.
• March 10 - Sir Geoffrey Howe announces the British budget, which raises taxes in the middle of a recession.
• March 11 - Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term.
• March 17 - In Italy the Propaganda Due Masonic Lodge is discovered.
• March 19 - Three workers are killed and 5 injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• March 26 - The British Social Democratic Party is launched at the Connaught Rooms in London.
• March 29 - The first London Marathon starts with 7,500 runners.
• March 30 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.
• March 31 - The 53rd Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut in Ordinary People wins Best Picture and Best Director.

April

• April 1 - Daylight saving time is introduced in the USSR.
• April 2 - Tony Benn announces that he will challenge Denis Healey for the Deputy Leadership of the British Labour Party.
• April 4 - The UK pop group Bucks Fizz wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song, Making Your Mind Up.
• April 10 - IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands wins the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election.
• April 11 - Brixton riot (1981): Rioters in South London throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.
• April 12 - The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
• April 15 - The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty.
• April 18 - A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).
• April 18 - The rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983).
• April 24 - French presidential election: A first-round runoff results between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand.

May

• May - Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon Basin.
• May 1 - The new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds, begins.
• May 5 - Bobby Sands, Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer and elected member of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, dies aged 27 while on hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
• May 6 - A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries.
• May 7 - The Greater London Council election results in a small Labour majority. On May 8, Ken Livingstone becomes Leader of the Council.
• May 10 - In the second round of the presidential elections in France, François Mitterrand beats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
• May 10 - In Italy a popular referendum rejects the abrogation of the law allowing abortion.
• May 13 - Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience.
• May 15 - Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith, the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States.
• May 21 - In France, Socialist François Mitterrand becomes President.
• May 22 - Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper. He is sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder.
• May 25 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• May 26 - The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.
• May 30 - Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.

June

• June 5 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (the first recognized cases of AIDS).
• June 6 - Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India; about 800 die.
• June 7 - The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.
• June 12 - Major League Baseball goes on strike, forcing the cancellation of 38 percent of the schedule.
• June 13 - At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sarjeant fires 6 blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• June 21 - Wayne Williams, a 23-year-old African American, is arrested and charged with the murders of 2 other African Americans. He is later accused of 28 others, in the Atlanta child murders.
• June 22 - Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.
• June 26 - Couples For Christ, a Christian charismatic organization, is established in the Philippines.
• June 29 - Morris Edwin Robert, armed with a machine gun, holds hostages in the FBI section at the Atlanta, Georgia Federal Building. After 3 hours the hostages are rescued and Robert is shot (dead?).

July

• July 2 - The Wonderland Gang is brutally murdered in a massacre involving Eddie Nash.
• July 3 - The Toxteth riots in Liverpool, UK start after a mob saves a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the Chapeltown riots in Leeds start after increased racial tension.
• July 7 - President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• July 8 - California Governor Jerry Brown, faced with a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation, chooses to delay the aerial spraying of malathion, in favor of continuing ground-based eradication efforts.
• July 8 - Irish Republican Joe McDonnell dies at the Long Kesh Internment Camp after a 61-day hunger strike.
• July 10 - Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia.
• July 17 - Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.
• July 17 - Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, 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.^[1]
• July 17 - In Bolivia, General Luis Gracia Meza leads a bloody coup d'état against the elected government of Lidia Gayler.
• July 19 - The 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of apartheid.
• July 21 - Tohui The Panda is born in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China.
• July 27 - Adam Walsh, 6, is kidnapped from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida.
• July 29 - Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.

August

• August 1 - MTV (Music Television) is launched on cable television in the United States.
• August 3 - The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) goes on strike.
• August 5 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• August 7 - The Washington Star ceases publication after 128 years.
• August 9 - Major League Baseball resumes from the strike with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.
• August 10 - Exactly 2 weeks after his disappearance, the severed head of 6-year-old Hollywood, Florida native Adam Walsh is found in a canal in Vero Beach, Florida; to this day the rest of the boy's body has never been recovered.
• August 12 - The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
• August 19 - Gulf of Sidra incident (1981): Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi sends 2 Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept 2 U.S. fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets destroy the Libyan fighters.
• August 19 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.
• August 24 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, after being convicted of murdering John Lennon in Manhattan 8 months earlier.
• August 28 - South African troops invade Angola.
• August 31 - A bomb explodes at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, West Germany, injuring 20 people.

September

• September 4 - An explosion at a mine in Záluží, Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people.
• September 10 - Picasso's painting "Guernica" is moved from New York to Madrid.
• September 11 - A small plane crashes into the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, California, damaging the venue beyond repair.
• September 14 - Margaret Thatcher appoints Cecil Parkinson as Chairman of the Conservative Party.
• September 15 - The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, DC.
• September 16 - In Britain, the Liberal Party Assembly votes for an electoral pact with the new Social Democratic Party.
• September 18 - France abolishes capital punishment.
• September 19 - The second Wranslide occurs in New South Wales, with the Wran government re-elected for a third term with an increased majority, and reducing the Liberal Party of Australia to just 14 members in the Legislative Assembly.
• September 19 - Simon and Garfunkel perform The Concert in Central Park, a free concert in New York in front of approximately half a million people.
• September 20 - The Brazilian river boat Sobral Santos capsizes in the Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300.
• September 21 - Belize becomes independent.
• September 25 - Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
• September 25 - The Rolling Stones begin their Tattoo You tour at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
• September 26 - The Boeing 767 airliner makes its first flight.
• September 27 - TGV high speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France begins.
• September 27 - Denis Healey retains the post of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, beating Tony Benn by 50.426% to 49.574%.

October

• October 6 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a parade by army members who belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization; they opposed his negotiations with Israel.
• October 10 - The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.
• October 10 - A Provisional IRA bomb at Chelsea Barracks in London kills a woman pensioner.
• October 13 - James Tobin wins the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
• October 14 - Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt 1 week after Anwar Sadat's assassination.
• October 15 - The heavy metal band Metallica forms.
• October 16 - Gas explosions at a coal mine at Hokutan, Yūbari, Hokkaidō, Japan kill 93.
• October 21 - Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
• October 22 - The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D.P. Singh begins.
• October 22 - Liberal candidate Bill Pitt wins the Croydon North West by-election, the first election win by the Liberal-S.D.P. Alliance.
• October 26 - An IRA bomb in a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street, London, kills a bomb disposal expert.
• October 27 - A Soviet submarine runs aground outside the Karlskrona, Sweden military base.

November

• November 1 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
• November 9 - Edict No. 81-234 abolishes slavery in Mauritania.
• November 12 - STS-2: Space Shuttle Columbia (Joe Engle, Richard Truly) lifts off for its second mission.
• November 12 - The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.
• November 13 - The first Friday the 13th motorcycle event is held in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada.
• November 16 - Luke and Laura marry on the U.S. soap opera General Hospital; it is the highest-rated hour in daytime television history.
• November 18 - COMDEX Fall, IBM introduces the IBM PC. Scientific Solutions announces the first PC add-in cards.
• November 23 - Iran-Contra scandal: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• November 25–26 - A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport in the Seychelles in a coup attempt. Most of the mercenaries escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; 6 are later arrested.
• November 26 - Former cabinet minister Shirley Williams wins the Crosby by-election, becoming the first elected S.D.P. MP.
• November 30 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin negotiating intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings end inconclusively on Thursday, December 17).

December

• December 1 - A Yugoslavian McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes into a mountain while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing 178.
• December 4 - South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
• December 5 - American general James Lee Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.
• December 8 - The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13.
• December 8 - Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers.
• December 10 - During the Ministerial Session of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Spain signes the Protocol of Accession to NATO.
• December 11 - Boxing: Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick; this proved to be Ali's last-ever fight.
• December 11 - El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.
• December 13 - Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
• December 15 - A car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 61 people; Syrian intelligence is blamed.
• December 20 - The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurs off the coast of South-West Cornwall.
• 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 Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the PNDC led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

Undated

• Heavy massive snow causes many houses and buildings to collapse in northwestern Japan; 152 are killed (from January to March).
• The Millennium translation of Saint Edward the Martyr's relics from Wareham to Shaftesbury is observed in a reenactment.
• Public funding of election campaigns is introduced in New South Wales, Australia.
• The State Council of the People's Republic of China lists the 4 cities (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.
• Cuba suffers a major outbreak of Dengue fever, with 344,203 cases. http://w3.whosea.org/en/Section10/Section332/Section521_2454.htm
• Luxor AB Presents the ABC 800 computer.
• The Kosovo Liberation Army is formed.

Ongoing

• Cold War.

Births

January–February

• January 1 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
• January 1 - Rashod Moulton, National Football League player
• January 1 - Mladen Petrić, Croatian football player
• January 1 - Eden Riegel, American actress
• January 2 - Maxi Rodriguez, Argentine Atletico Madrid footballer
• January 3 - Eli Manning, American football player
• January 6 - Mike Jones, American rapper
• January 6 - Jérémie Renier, Belgian actor
• January 7 - Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• January 8 - Xie Xingfang, Chinese badminton player
• January 8 - Genevieve Cortese, American actress
• January 8 - Jeff Francis, Canadian pitcher
• January 9 - Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer
• January 9 - Caroline Lufkin, American singer
• January 11 - Jamelia, British singer
• January 12 - Quentin Griffin, American football player
• January 15 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
• January 15 - Howie Day, American singer and songwriter
• January 17 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
• January 17 - Ray J, American rapper and singer
• January 20 - Jason Richardson, American basketball player
• January 20 - Owen Hargreaves, Canadian-born English footballer
• January 21 - Dany Heatley, German-born hockey player
• January 21 - Gillian Chung, Hong Kong singer (Twins)
• January 22 - Chantelle Anderson, American basketball player
• January 22 - Willa Ford, American singer, television hostess, and actress
• January 22 - Beverley Mitchell, American actress
• January 22 - Ben Moody, American guitarist (formerly of Evanescence)
• January 24 - Brandon Henschel, American actor and dancer
• January 25 - Tose Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007)
• January 27 - Greg Owens, Australian footballer (Central Coast Mariners)
• January 27 - Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player
• January 28 - Elijah Wood, American actor and music producer
• January 29 - Jonny Lang, American musician
• January 30 - Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian national football team captain and Manchester United player
• January 31 - Justin Timberlake, American musician
• February 3 - Alisa Reyes, American actress
• February 5 - Nora Zehetner, American actress
• February 5 - Lee Eon, South Korean actor and model (d. 2008)
• February 10 - The Reverend Tholomew Plague, American drummer (Avenged Sevenfold)
• February 10 - Natasha St-Pier, Canadian singer
• February 11 - Kelly Rowland, American singer (Destiny's Child)
• February 14 - Erin Torpey, American actress
• February 15 - Jenna Morasca, American television personality
• February 15 - Olivia, American R&B singer
• February 16 - Lupe Fiasco, American hip-hop artist
• February 17 - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor
• February 17 - Paris Hilton, American model, heiress, and socialite
• February 18 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
• February 18 - Ivan Sproule, Irish footballer
• February 19 - Vitas, Russian singer
• February 20 - Chris Thile, American mandolinist
• February 20 - Majandra Delfino, American actress
• February 22 - Jeanette Biedermann, German singer and actress
• February 24 - Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
• February 26 - Maria Sansone, American journalist and Internet personality
• February 27 - Josh Groban, American singer

March–April

• March 1 - Ana Hickmann, Brazilian model
• March 1 - Adam LaVorgna, American actor
• March 1 - Brad Winchester, American ice hockey player
• March 2 - Bryce Howard, American actress
• March 3 - Lil' Flip, American rapper
• March 4 - Carol Banawa, Filipina singer
• March 6 - Ellen Muth, American actress
• March 9 - Antonio Bryant, American football player
• March 10 - Kristen Maloney, American gymnast
• March 11 - David Anders, American actor
• March 11 - Lee Evans, American football player
• March 11 - LeToya Luckett, American singer
• March 12 - Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player
• March 12 - Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese professional wrestler
• March 15 - Young Buck, American rapper
• March 16 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
• March 16 - Johannes Aigner, Austrian footballer
• March 17 - Kyle Korver, American basketball player
• March 19 - Kolo Touré, Ivorian football player
• March 22 - MIMS, American rapper
• March 27 - Lin Jun Jie, Chinese Singer
• March 27 - Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
• March 28 - Lindsay Frimodt, American model
• March 28 - Julia Stiles, American actress
• March 28 - Gareth David-Lloyd, Welsh actor
• March 31 - Gerard McCarthy, British actor
• April 1 - Asli Bayram, Turkish German model and actress
• April 1 - Hannah Spearritt, British singer and actress
• April 2 - Bethany Joy Lenz, American actress and singer
• April 3 - Arfius Arf, British artist
• April 5 - Michael A. Monsoor, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
• April 6 - Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
• April 7 - Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
• April 8 - Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
• April 9 - Milan Bartovič, Slovak hockey player
• April 9 - Eric Harris, American murderer (d. 1999)
• April 9 - Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
• April 10 - Gretchen Bleiler, American snowboarder
• April 10 - Liz McClarnon, British singer
• April 10 - Michael Pitt, American actor
• April 11 - Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
• April 15 - Seth Wulsin, artist
• April 17 - Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer
• April 18 - Jang Nara, Korean actress and singer
• April 18 - Audrey Tang, Taiwanese software programmer
• April 19 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
• April 19 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
• April 19 - Troy Polamalu, American football player
• April 20 - Matus Valent, fitness model
• April 21 - Mike Christie, English musician
• April 21 - Stephanie Larimore, American model
• April 22 - Ken Dorsey, American football player
• April 25 - John McFall, British Paralympic sprinter
• April 25 - Anja Pärson, Swedish alpine skier
• April 26 - Matthieu Delpierre, French football player
• April 27 - Sandy Mölling, German pop singer
• April 28 - Jessica Alba, American actress
• April 29 - George McCartney, Irish footballer

May–June

• May 1 - Alexander Hleb, Belarusian football player
• May 3 - Farrah Franklin, American singer
• May 3 - U;Nee, South Korean singer and actress (d. 2007)
• May 4 - Jacques Rudolph, South African cricketer
• May 5 - Danielle Fishel, American actress
• May 5 - Danijel Nikolic, Serbian actor
• May 8 - Andres Romero, Argentine golfer
• May 11 - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
• May 11 - Daisuke Matsui, Japanese football player
• May 12 - Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
• May 13 - Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
• May 13 - Sunny Leone, Canadian pornstar
• May 13 - Jimmy Wang Yang, Korean professional wrestler
• May 15 - Patrice Evra, Senegalese-born French footballer
• May 15 - Zara Phillips, British elite equestrienne
• May 15 - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
• May 15 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
• May 17 - R. J. Helton, American singer
• May 19 - Bong Tae-gyu, South Korean actor
• May 19 - Nate Cole, American singer/songwriter
• May 19 - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
• May 20 - Sean Conlon, English musician
• May 20 - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
• May 20 - Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
• May 21 - Josh Hamilton, American baseball player
• May 22 - Melissa Gregory, American figure skater
• May 26 - Isaac Slade, American singer/pianist of The Fray
• May 27 - Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
• May 27 - David Mauro, American painter
• May 28 - Laura Bailey, American voice actress
• May 29 - Andrei Arshavin, Russian football player
• May 30 - Remy Ma, American rapper
• May 31 - Jake Peavy, American baseball player
• June 1 - Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player
• June 3 - Mike Adam, Canadian curler
• June 5 - Jade Goody, British reality show star
• June 6 - Johnny Pacar, American actor
• June 7 - Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
• June 7 - Larisa Oleynik, American actress
• June 8 - Alex Band, American musician
• June 8 - Sara Watkins, American violinist
• June 8 - Ai Nonaka, Japanese voice actress
• June 9 - Celina Jaitley, Indian actress
• June 9 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
• June 9 - Anoushka Shankar, British musician and daughter of Ravi Shankar
• June 9 - Vic Zhou, Taiwanese actor, singer, and model
• June 10 - Hoku Ho, Hawaiian singer and musician
• June 10 - Burton O'Brien, Scottish footballer
• June 12 - Adriana Lima, Brazilian model
• June 13 - Chris Evans, American actor
• June 14 - Lonneke Engel, Dutch model
• June 15 - Haley Scarnato, American singer
• June 16 - Ben Kweller, American musician
• June 17 - Amrita Rao, Indian actress
• June 18 - Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (d. 1987)
• June 18 - Ella Chen, Taiwanese singer
• June 20 - Alisan Porter, American actress and singer
• June 21 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist
• June 22 - Chris Urbanowicz, British guitarist
• June 25 - Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
• June 25 - Yūichi Komano, Japanese footballer
• June 28 - Mara Santangelo, Italian tennis player
• June 29 - Joe Johnson, American basketball player

July–August

• July 2 - Alex Koroknay-Palicz, American activist
• July 2 - Paul Anthony Finn, Irish singer and songwriter (The Flaws)
• July 3 - Brandon Jay McLaren, Canadian actor
• July 6 - Nnamdi Asomugha, American football player
• July 7 - Synyster Gates, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
• July 8 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
• July 8 - Ashley Blue, American pornographic actress
• July 13 - Agnes Kovacs, Hungarian swimmer
• July 14 - Lee Mead, British actor
• July 19 - Didz Hammond, bassist/backing vocalist (Dirty Pretty Things and The Cooper Temple Clause)
• July 19 - Nikki Osborne, Australian actress
• July 20 - Damien Delaney, Irish footballer
• July 20 - Dayang Nurfaizah, Malaysian singer
• July 21 - Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
• July 21 - Blake Lewis, American Idol finalist
• July 23 - Steve Jocz, Canadian drummer (Sum 41)
• July 23 - Jarkko Nieminen, Finnish tennis player
• July 24 - Summer Glau, American actress (Firefly)
• July 25 - Jani Rita, Finnish ice hockey player
• July 29 - Fernando Alonso, Spanish Two Time Formula 1 World Champion
• July 31 - M. Shadows, American singer (Avenged Sevenfold)
• July 31 - Eric Lively, American actor
• July 31 - Vernon Carey, American football player
• August 4 - Marques Houston, American singer and actor
• August 5 - Carl Crawford, Major League Baseball outfielder
• August 5 - Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
• August 5 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer and actress
• August 6 - Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italian race car driver
• August 6 - Travis McCoy, American alternative hip-hop artist
• August 8 - Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
• August 8 - Harel Skaat, Israeli singer
• August 8 - Meagan Good, American actress
• August 8 - Kaori Iida, Japanese singer and actress
• August 9 - Li Jiawei, Singaporean Olympic table tennis player
• August 10 - Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress
• August 11 - Sandi Thom, Scottish singer & song writer
• August 12 - Djibril Cissé, French footballer
• August 12 - Steve Talley, American actor
• August 15 - Song Ji-hyo, South Korean actress
• August 16 - Taylor Rain, American actress
• August 20 - Benjamin Barnes, English actor (Prince Caspian)
• August 24 - Jiro Wang, Actor and Singer Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)
• August 24 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
• August 25 - Rachel Bilson, American actress
• August 25 - Shiva Keshavan, Indian Luge Pilot
• August 28 - Charlie Frye, Natiional Football League quarterback
• August 29 - Lanny Barbie, American pornstar
• August 30 - Brian J. Robinson, Canadian musician (A Wilhelm Scream)
• August 30 - Tresor Kandol, Leeds United footballer

September–October

• September 1 - Clinton Portis, American football player
• September 1 - Michael Adamthwaite, Canadian voice actor
• September 2 - Bracha van Doesburgh, Dutch actress
• September 3 - Fearne Cotton, British television presenter
• September 4 - Beyoncé Knowles, American actress and R&B singer (Destiny's Child)
• September 4 - Lacey Mosley, American lead vocalist (Flyleaf)
• September 6 - Yumiko Cheng, Hong Kong singer
• September 8 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor (Home Improvement)
• September 9 - Julie Gonzalo, Argentinian actress
• September 11 - Dylan Klebold, American murderer (d. 1999)
• September 12 - Jennifer Hudson, American singer and actress
• September 12 - Hosea Chanchez, American actor
• September 14 - Ashley Roberts, singer The Pussycat Dolls
• September 16 - Alexis Bledel, American actress
• September 16 - Fan Bingbing, Chinese actress
• September 21 - Nicole Richie, American actress, singer and socialite
• September 22 - Ashley Drane, American actress
• September 22 - Alexei Ramirez, baseball player
• September 23 - Misti Traya, American actress
• September 23 - Natalie Horler, German singer Cascada
• September 23 - Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
• September 25 - Rocco Baldelli, baseball player
• September 26 - Christina Milian, American R&B singer and actress
• September 26 - Serena Williams, American tennis player
• September 29 - Suzanne Shaw, British singer Hear'Say
• September 30 - Cecelia Ahern, Irish author and daughter of Bertie Ahern, former Taoiseach
• September 30 - Dominique Moceanu, American gymnast
• October 3 - Zlatan Ibrahimović, Swedish footballer
• October 3 - Amanda Walsh, Canadian actress
• October 5 - Enrico Fabris, Italian speed skater
• October 8 - Raffi Torres, Canadian ice hockey player
• October 8 - Ruby (Egyptian Singer), Egyptian singer
• October 9 - Zachery Ty Bryan, American actor
• October 9 - Ryoichi Maeda, Japanese footballer
• October 11 - Beau Brady, Australian actor
• October 13 - Ryan Ashford, English footballer
• October 15 - Elena Dementieva, Russian tennis player
• October 15 - Guo Jingjing, Chinese diver
• October 20 - Willis McGahee, American football player
• October 21 - Nemanja Vidić, Serbian fotball player
• October 22 - Michael Fishman, American actor
• October 23 - Olivier Occean, Canadian footballer
• October 24 - Tila Tequila, Vietnamese American model and singer
• October 24 - Mallika Sherawat, Indian actress
• October 25 - Shaun Wright-Phillips, English footballer
• October 25 - Austin Winkler, American lead vocalist (Hinder)
• October 26 - Guy Sebastian, original Australian Idol 2003 singer
• October 28 - Milan Baroš, Czech footballer
• October 28 - Dwayne Cameron, New Zealand actor
• October 29 - Amanda Beard, American swimmer
• October 30 - Ivanka Trump, American model
• October 31 - Selina Ren, member of Taiwanese girl-group S.H.E
• October 31 - Irina Denezhkina, Russian writer
• October 31 - Frank Iero, American guitarist (My Chemical Romance)

November–December

• November 1 - LaTavia Roberson, American singer (Destiny's Child)
• November 2 - Tatiana Totmianina, Russian figure skater
• November 3 - Blair Chenoweth, American beauty queen
• November 3 - Jackie Gayda, American professional wrestler
• November 4 - Vince Wilfork, American football player
• November 4 - Paul Tucker Canadian comic-book artist.
• November 6 - Cassie Bernall, American murder victim (d. 1999)
• November 7 - George Pilkington, Port Vale footballer
• November 8 - Joe Cole, English footballer
• November 8 - Azura Skye, American actress
• November 10 - Tony Blanco, Dominican baseball player
• November 10 - Jason Dunham, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2004)
• November 10 - Alison Waite, American model
• November 11 - Natalie Glebova, Canadian beauty queen
• November 11 - Jyothika, Indian actress
• November 11 - Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
• November 13 - Mark Cardona, Filipino basketball player
• November 13 - Shawn Yue, Hong Kong actor and singer
• November 14 - Russell Tovey, British actor
• November 15 - Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
• November 17 - Sarah Harding, British singer (Girls Aloud, Amy Lee Lead composer for Evanescence
• November 18 - Gian Magdangal, Filipino singer and actor
• November 20 - Kimberley Walsh, British singer (Girls Aloud)
• November 21 - Bryant McFadden, American football player
• November 21 - Ainars Kovals, Latvian javelin thrower
• November 22 - Ben Adams, British singer (a1)
• November 22 - Seweryn Gancarczyk, Polish footballer
• November 25 - Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
• November 25 - Barbara Pierce Bush,Daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush
• November 25 - Jenna Bush,Daughter of U.S. President George W. Bush
• November 26 - Natasha Bedingfield, British singer
• November 26 - Aurora Snow, American actress
• November 29 - Tom Hurndall, British photographer (d. 2004)
• December 2 - Britney Spears, American singer
• December 3 - David Villa, Spanish footballer
• December 3 - Brian Bonsall, American actor
• December 3 - Tyjuan Hagler, American football player
• December 4 - Lila McCann, American singer
• December 9 - Dia Mirza, Bollywood actress
• December 11 - Zacky Vengeance, American guitarist (Avenged Sevenfold)
• December 11 - Javier Saviola, Argentine soccer player
• December 12 - Spencer Johnson, NFL player
• December 13 - Amy Lee, American pianist/singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
• December 14 - Amber Chia, Malaysian model and actress
• December 15 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)
• December 15 - Donal Coonan, UK presenter for Channel 4's webshow thisisaknife
• December 15 - Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian Soccer player
• December 16 - Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer
• December 21 - Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
• December 24 - Dima Bilan, Russian pop-singer
• December 27 - Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
• December 27 - Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
• December 28 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, first American test-tube baby
• December 28 - Sienna Miller, American-born actress
• December 28 - Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
• December 29 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
• December 29 - Angela Via, American singer
• December 30 - Kyle Eckel, National Football League player
• December 30 - Haley Paige, American actress (d. 2007)

Deaths

January–March

• January 5 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
• January 5 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian-born philosopher, poet, and activist (b. 1901)
• January 6 - A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
• January 10 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
• January 13 - Robert Kellard, American actor (b. 1915)
• January 23 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
• January 31 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
• February 1 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
• February 9 - Bill Haley, American musician (b. 1925)
• February 15 - Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
• February 18 - John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)
• February 20 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)
• February 26 - Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
• February 27 - Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (b. 1920)
• March 6 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
• March 7 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
• March 9 - Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
• March 23 - Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)
• March 30 - DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (b. 1889)
• March 31 - Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)

April–June

• April 3 - Juan Trippe, Airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
• April 5 - Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
• April 7 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
• April 12 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
• April 18 - James H. Schmitz, German-born writer (b. 1911)
• April 27 - John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
• May 5 - Bobby Sands, Irish republican (hunger strike) (b. 1954)
• May 9 - Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)
• May 9 - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)
• May 11 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• May 11 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
• May 18 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
• May 30 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
• June 1 - Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (b. 1883)
• June 2 - Rino Gaetano, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
• June 9 - Allen Ludden, American television game show host (b. 1917)
• June 10 - Jenny Maxwell, American actress (b. 1941)
• June 17 - Sir Richard O'Connor, English general (b. 1889)
• June 17 - Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (b. 1889)
• June 18 - Pamela Hansford Johnson, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic (b. 1912)
• June 19 - Lotte Reiniger, German-born silhouette animator (b. 1899)
• June 23 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
• June 28 - Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)

July–September

• July 8 - Joe McDonnell, Irish political prisoner (b. 1951)
• July 16 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
• July 27 - Adam Walsh, American murder victim, inspired Code Adam (b. 1974)
• July 27 - William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902)
• July 29 - Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
• August 14 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
• August 30 - Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (b. 1921)
• September 1 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (b. 1905)
• September 2 - Enid Lyons, Australia politician (b. 1897)
• September 6 - Christy Brown, Irish author, poet, and artist (b. 1932)
• September 8 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
• September 9 - Sir Robert (Bob) Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
• September 12 - Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
• September 15 - Rafael Méndez, Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso (b. 1906)
• September 15 - Harold Bennett, British actor (b. 1899)
• September 28 - Sir Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, British Conservative cabinet minister (b. 1923)
• September 29 - Bill Shankly, British football manager (b. 1914)

October–December

• October 2 - Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
• October 6 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)
• October 16 - Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)
• October 16 - Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
• October 29 - Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)
• November 7 - Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)
• November 14 - Robert Bradford, Northern Irish footballer and politician (b. 1941)
• November 16 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
• November 22 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
• November 25 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)
• November 29 - Natalie Wood, American actress (b. 1938)
• December 3 - Walter Knott, American farmer and theme park creator (b. 1889)
• December 15 - Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909)
• December 23 - Reginald Miles Ansett, Australian businessman and aviator (b. 1909)
• December 27 - Hoagy Carmichael, American jazz composer (b. 1899)
• December 28 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)
• December 30 - Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (b. 1959)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Kai Siegbahn
• Chemistry - Kenichi Fukui, Roald Hoffmann
• Medicine - Roger Wolcott Sperry, David H. Hubel, Torsten Wiesel
• Literature - Elias Canetti
• Peace - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• Economics - James Tobin

Templeton Prize

• Dame Cicely Saunders

See also

• 20th century

Notes and References

1. The Bombing of Beirut. Journal of Palestine Studies. 11. 1. 1981. 218–225. 10.1525/jps.1981.11.1.00p0366x.