Today in History for May 1981

Months in 1981: January February March April June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 66 of 66

1st - Billie Jean King admits to a lesbian affair with Marilyn Barnett
1st - Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) convicted on FBI Abscam charges
1st - Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3
2nd - 107th Kentucky Derby: Jorge Velasquez on Pleasant Colony wins in 2:02
2nd - Radio Shack re-releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3 with 2 fixes
3rd - "Can-Can" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 5 performances
3rd - "Moony, Shapiro Songbook" opens & closes at Morosco Theater NYC
3rd - Sally Little wins LPGA CPC Women's Golf International
4th - Rockline premieres on KLOS FM in Los Angeles
4th - Silvana Cruciata runs 15k female world record (49:44.0)
4th - Yankee Ron Davis strikes out 8 consecutive Angels, ran record of 13 strikeouts of last 14 faced, also saved Gene Nelsons 1st win, 4-2
5th - 16th & final Mayor's Trophy Game, Mets beat Yanks 4-1, hold 8-7-1 edge
6th - "Inacent Black" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 14 performances
6th - Mariners manager Maury Wills is fired & replaced by Rene Lachemann
6th - US expels Libyan diplomats
8th - Ron Davis pitches 10th consecutive strike out, 1 short of record
9th - Kazimiroff Blvd in Bronx named for a Bronx historian
10th - Amy Alcott wins LPGA Lady Michelob Golf Tournament
10th - Francois Mitterrand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estang for Pres of France
10th - Montreal Expo Charlie Lee no-hits SF Giants, 4-0
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber 11th - Andrew Lloyd Webber/TS Eliot's musical "Cats," premieres in London
11th - Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" hits #1, stay there 9 weeks
12th - "Lena Horne: Lady, Music" opens at Nederlander NYC for 333 perfs
12th - Isles tie own rec with 2 shorthanded playoff goals in a pd vs Minn
13th - Dinamo Tbilisi wins 21st Europe Cup II
13th - Pope John Paul II is shot and critically wounded by Turkish gunman Mehemet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square, Vatican City
14th - 35th NBA Championship: Bost Celtics beat Houston Rockets, 4 games to 2
14th - NASA launches space vehicle S-192
15th - "Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" airs
15th - 2nd City TV's (SCTV) network premier (NBC)
15th - George Harrison releases "All Those Years Ago" in UK
15th - Len Barker of Cleveland pitches perfect game vs Toronto
15th - SCTV Network 90, sequel to Second City Television debut on NBC
15th - Soyuz 40 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Rumanian) to Salyut 6
16th - "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks
264th Pope John Paul II 16th - 107th Preakness: Jorge Velasquez aboard Pleasant Colony wins in 1:54.6
16th - Houston Astro Craig Reynolds hits 3 triples beating Cubs 6-1
17th - "Inacent Black" closes at Biltmore Theater NYC after 14 performances
17th - Islanders score 5 power play goals against Flyers in a playoff
17th - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Coca-Cola Golf Classic
19th - Pirate Jim Bibby gives up a leadoff single to Brave Terry Harper, then retires next 27 batters
20th - Ipswich Town wins 10th UEFA Cup at Amsterdam
21st - Francois Mitterrand becomes president of France
21st - Kim Seelbrede, (Ohio), crowned 30th Miss USA
21st - Stanley Cup: NY Islanders beat Minnesota North Stars, 4 games to 1
22nd - Soyuz 40 returns to Earth
23rd - Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage
23rd - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 501
24th - Bobby Unser wins, loses, & wins a controversial Indy 500
24th - Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona Spain
24th - Kathy Hite wins LPGA Corning Golf Classic
25th - Bobby Unser becomes 1st Indy 500 winner to be disqualified
25th - Carl Yastrzemski is 4th to get 3,000 hits (Cobb, Musial & Aaron)
25th - Daniel Goodwin, scales outside of Chicago's Sears Tower in 7 hours
25th - Rangers' Bill Stein sets AL record with 7 consecutive pinch hits
26th - Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14
26th - The Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
27th - John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol
27th - Lenny Randle tries to blow a slow roller foul but ump says no
27th - Liverpool wins 26th Europe Cup 1 at Paris
27th - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
29th - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
30th - "Nightline" extends from 4 nights to 5 nights a week (Friday)
30th - Bangladesh Pres Ziaur Rahman is shot by group of rebel officers
30th - LA Dodgers are quickest to get 1,000,000 attendence (22 games)
31st - Cathy Reynolds wins LPGA Golden Lights Golf Championship

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 75 of 75

1st - Aliaksandr Hleb, Belarusian footballer
1st - Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian Footballer
1st - Wes Welker, American football player
2nd - Matt Murray, English footballer
2nd - Chris Kirkland, English footballer
3rd - Farrah Franklin, American singer (former member of Destiny's Child)
4th - Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
5th - Danielle Christine Fishel, Mesa AZ, actress (Topanga-Boy Meets World)
5th - Marcelle Bittar, Brazilian supermodel
5th - Chris Duncan, baseball player
5th - Craig David, Southhampton England, English singer (7 Days, Insomnia)
6th - Matthew Leone, bassist of Madina Lake
6th - Nathan Leone, lead singer of Madina Lake
6th - Edyta Sliwinska,Polish professional dancer
6th - Mark O'Connell, American drummer (Taking Back Sunday)
8th - Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
8th - Björn Dixgård, Swedish guitarist
8th - Yasuko Tajima, Japanese swimmer
8th - John Maine, American baseball player
Singer-songwriter Craig David (5th) 9th - Bill Murphy, American baseball player
10th - Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
11th - Austin O'Brien, actor (Apollo 13, My Girl 2, Lawnmower Man)
11th - Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
11th - Daniel Ortmeier, American baseball player
12th - James Graham - Founder HistoryOrb.com
12th - Kentaro Sato, Japanese composer
12th - Lorena Bernal, Spanish model and actress, Miss Spain 1999
13th - Sunny Leone, Canadian model
13th - Jimmy Yang, American wrestler
13th - Rebecka Liljeberg, Swedish actress
14th - Sarbel, Greek-born singer
15th - Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne
15th - Patrice Evra, French-Senegalese footballer
15th - Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
Daughter of Princess Anne Zara Phillips (15th) 15th - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress
16th - Jessica Ponzo, Miss New Jersey Teen USA (1996)
16th - Jim Sturgess, English actor
17th - Beñat Albizuri, Spanish cyclist
17th - Giannis Taralidis, Greek footballer
17th - R. J. Helton, American Idol finalist
17th - Shiri Maimon, Israeli singer
17th - Leon Osman, English footballer
18th - Mahamadou Diarra, Malian footballer
19th - Georges St. Pierre, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
19th - Luciano Figueroa, Argentine footballer
19th - Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
19th - Nate Cole, American singer
20th - Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
20th - Calico Cooper, American actress and dancer
20th - Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
20th - Mark Winterbottom, Australian racing driver
21st - Beth Botsford, 100m/200m backstroke (Olympics-gold-96)
21st - Belladonna, American pornographic actress
21st - Max, German singer
21st - Josh Hamilton, Major League Baseball player
22nd - Bryan Danielson, American professional wrestler
22nd - Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
23rd - Gwenno Saunders, Former Welsh dancer, now singer with The Pipettes
24th - Shelby Lyons, Oswego NY, pairs skater (& Wells-1995 Midwest champ)
24th - Marketa Janska, Czech model and Playboy Playmate
26th - Eda-Ines Etti, Estonian singer
26th - Irini Merkouri, Greek singer
27th - Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer
27th - Miloy, Angolan footballer
27th - Fivos Constantinou, Cypriot distance runner
27th - Özgür Çevik, Turkish singer and actor
28th - Daniel Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
28th - Adam Green, American singer and songwriter
29th - Andrei Arshavin, Russian footballer
30th - Andrey Arshavin, Russian Footballer
30th - Gianmaria Bruni, Italian racing driver
30th - Devendra Banhart, American singer and songwriter
30th - Blake Bashoff, American actor
30th - Ahmad Elrich, Australian footballer
31st - Jake Peavy, American baseball player

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 2 of 2

8th - Author John Grisham (26) weds Renee Jones
16th - Pretenders' Martin Chambers weds Tracy Atkinson

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 33 of 33

1st - Clarence A Bacote, historian/political scientist, dies at 75
1st - Peter Huchel, writer, dies at 78
5th - Bobby Sands, IRA activist/terrorist dies in the 66th day of his hunger strike
7th - Mieczyslaw Kolinski, composer, dies at 79
8th - Margaret Lindsay, actress (G Men, Lady Killer, Jezebel), dies at 70
8th - Maurice Fernandes, cricket captain (WI in 1st Test win, 1930 v Eng), dies
9th - C E "Nip" Pellew, cricketer (10 Tests 484 runs at 37), dies
9th - Nelson Algren, US writer (Man with the Golden Arm), dies at 72
9th - Ralph Allen, English footballer (b. 1906)
11th - Bob Marley, reggae singer, dies of brain & lung cancer at 36
11th - Hoyt J Fuller, editor (1st World magazine), dies at 57
12th - Benjamin H Sheares, president of Singapore, dies
13th - Carl Weinrich, composer, dies at 76
16th - Ernie Freeman, American pianist and arranger (b. 1922)
17th - Hugo Freidhofer, composer, dies at 80
17th - Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, 1st US woman free balloon pilot, dies
18th - Arthur O'Connell, actor (Mr Peepers, 2nd Hundred Years), dies at 73
18th - William Saroyan, US stagewriter (Time of your life), dies at 72
21st - Yuki Shimoda, actor (Farewell to Manzanar), dies
Reggae Musician Bob Marley (11th) 21st - Patsy O'Hara, Irish hunger striker (b. 1957)
21st - Raymond Mccreesh, Irish hunger striker (b. 1957)
23rd - George Jessel, US comic/toastmaster (Diary of Young Comic), dies at 83
23rd - Rayner Heppenstall, English novelist (d. 1911)
23rd - David Lewis, Canadian labour lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
24th - George Jessel, actor (Diary of a Young Comic), dies at 83
24th - Jack Warner, [Waters], actor (Captive Heart), dies at 84
25th - Rosa Ponselle, US singer (Metropolitan Opera), dies at 84
25th - Roy Brown, American boxer/rocker, dies of a heart attack at 55
25th - Fredric Warburg, British publisher and author (b. 1898)
28th - Mary Lou Williams, black musician, dies at 71 in Durham NC
28th - Stefan Wyszynski, Polish Cardinal, dies
30th - Ziaur Rahmen, pres of Bangladesh, is assassinated
30th - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)