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1981

1 ________ – George Geary, English cricketer (b.

2 ________ – Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers.

3 January 21 – ________, Hong Kong singer (Twins)

4 ________ – Liz McClarnon, British singer

5 ________ – Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)

6 ________ – The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.

7 June 21 – Wayne Williams, a 23-year-old ________, is arrested and charged with the murders of 2 other African Americans.

8 ________ – Rachel Bilson, American actress

9 March 23 – ________, English astronomer (b.

10 ________ – Wanda Hendrix, American actress (b.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Chilean football club Cobreloa reached the finals of South America's principal club competition, the Copa Libertadores, in 1981, only four years after the club's founding?
  • the Palau Congressional Library was founded in 1981, and has a staff of two?
  • the only international cricket in South Africa between 1971 and 1981 comprised 6 private tours and 1 women's test match, because no test match playing nation was willing to tour the country because of its apartheid policy?
  • when the John Bull ran under its own power in 1981 it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world?
  • in a British by-election in 1981, John Desmond Lewis ran for office under the name Tarquin Fin-tim-lim-bim-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olè-Biscuitbarrel, drawing inspiration from a Monty Python skit about silly elections?
  • before the bobsleigh track in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy was shortened to its current configuration in 1981, it was used as part of the film For Your Eyes Only?
  • Norwegian football commentator Bjørge Lillelien famously taunted Margaret Thatcher after Norway's victory over England in 1981?
  • Sarah Brady became an advocate of gun control and led actions to reduce gun violence after her husband White House Press Secretary James Brady sustained a disabling head wound during the Reagan assassination attempt in 1981?
  • Torchwood will be the first spin-off from Doctor Who since an unsuccessful pilot for K-9 and Company in 1981?
  • Chicago mayor Jane Byrne moved into the notoriously miserable Cabrini-Green housing project in 1981?
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