This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1981

	January 1st	Greece was admitted into the European Community.
	January 20th	Iran terrorists released 52 American hostages that were being held hostage inside the American embassy in Tehran since November 4, 1979.
	January 25th	Mao Zedong's widow Jiang Qing was sentenced to death for her role in the cultural revolution of China which claimed the lives of millions of civilians. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
	January 28th	American actor, Elijah Wood, was born in Iowa. He began acting at the age of nine and is best known for portraying the character of Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
	February 14th	A fire at a nightclub in Dublin, Ireland killed 48 people.
	February 17th	American socialite, Paris Hilton, was born in New York City. She is the heir of the Hilton hotel empire who was catapulted to world fame after the unauthorized release of a private sexual video with her then boyfriend, Rick Salomon.
	March 6th	Legendary reporter, Walter Cronkite, presents the CBS Evening News for the last time. He had been presenting them for 19 years. Walter Cronkite stood out as one of the most trusted reporters in 20th century America.
	March 30th	US President, Ronald Reagan, was shot in the chest outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. The assailant was John Hinckley, Jr., who was later declared insane.
	April 12th	The Columbia space shuttle was launched for the first time. This launch marked the first ever launch of the space shuttle type of spacecraft, which has been in use by NASA for over 2 decades.
	April 12th	American boxer, Joe Louis, died at the age of 67. He was the world heavyweight champion in boxing for almost 12 straight years.
	April 24th	The first IBM PC was introduced. The model was called the IBM 5150. It is now the dominant 'type' of personal computer available.
	April 25th	An accident in the nuclear power plant of Tsuruga, Japan, caused more than 100 workers to become exposed to radiation.
	April 27th	The computer mouse was first introduced by the Xerox PARC company, a research division of the Xerox Corporation.
	May 11th	Jamaican singer and musician, Bob Marley, died at the age of 36. He is the most widely known writer and performer of Reggae music and the one that made it popular around the world. He died from cancer, his last words to his son were 'Money can't buy life'.
	May 13th	Turkish terrorist, Mehmet Ali Agca, attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The would be assassin served 19 years in an Italian jail, before being extradited to serve the remaining sentence in Turkey.
	June 5th	The first ever cases of AIDS were identified in Los Angeles, USA, although at the time it was identified as a type of pneumonia.
	June 7th	Russian tennis player, Anna Kournikova, was born in Moscow. She was a successful international tennis player who enjoyed more popularity for her looks than for her tennis abilities.
	June 9th	Israeli-born actress, Natalie Portman, was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She became a star at the age of twelve after being cast in the hit movie, Leon. She is most known for participating in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
	July 29th	Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer were married in St Paul's Cathedral.
	August 1st	The music channel, MTV, began broadcasting. The first song played was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by the Buggles.
	August 7th	After 128 years of publication the Washington Star newspaper stopped being printed.
	August 8th	Swiss tennis player, Roger Federer, was born in Oberwil. He is one of the most successful tennis players of all time.
	August 12th	The first IBM PC (Personal Computer) was made available to the public. It is the forefather of the now dominant type of personal computers available to the world.
	August 24th	Mark David Chapman was sentenced to life in prison for murdering John Lennon. He has so far (2007) been denied parole four times.
	September 1st	Nazi official, Albert Speer, died at the age of 76. He had served the Nazi regime as minister for armaments. He was tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he served in the now infamous Spandau prison.
	September 19th	Singers, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, reunited for a single free concert in New York's Central Park. It was known as 'The Concert in Central Park' and was attended by more than half a million people.
	September 21st	Belize was granted full independence from the United Kingdom. The central American country of Belize borders with Mexico and Guatemala and was known as British Honduras up until 1973. Though an independent parliamentary democracy, it is also a constitutional monarchy which recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as Sovereign.
	September 26th	American tennis player, Serena Williams, was born in Saginaw, Michigan. She is considered as one of the top female players of the last decade, having been, previously, ranked number one in the world. She is also the younger sister of tennis star, Venus Williams.
	October 6th	Egyptian President, Anwar al-Sadat, was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization. He was considered to be one of the most influential Egyptian and Middle Eastern political figures in modern history.
	October 14th	Then Vice President, Hosni Mubarak ascended to the presidency of Egypt, one week after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. 25 years later (2006) he is still the President of Egypt.
	October 28th	The heavy metal music band Metallica was formed in Downey, California. It was formed by Lars Ulrich (drummer) and James Hetfield (guitarist and vocalist). It is the most commercially successful band to ever appear on the heavy metal stage.
	November 1st	Antigua and Barbuda gained independence as a unified country from the United Kingdom.
	November 12th	American actor, William Holden, died at the age of 63.
	December 11th	Boxer, Muhammad Ali, was defeated by Trevor Berbick in his last professional fight.
	December 11th	Peruvian diplomat, Javier Perez de Cuellar, became the United Nations Secretary General.
	December 13th	Martial law was declared in Poland in an effort to curtail the efforts of Solidarity towards a more democratic state. Martial law lasted for 17 months during which period any pro democracy movements were banned and their leaders imprisoned.
	December 17th	NATO's deputy chief of staff, Brigadier General James L. Dozier, was abducted by members of the Red Brigade terrorist group in Verona, Italy. He was freed 42 days later after by members of the Italian anti-terrorism unit.
	December 28th	The first American test-tube baby was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

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