WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO MAY 1981
Find out what all happened January to May 1981

A massive riot in Brixton, South London, results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries. (11. April 1981)

Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens FC. (8. February 1981)

Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives. (13. May 1981)

The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours. (27. March 1981)

Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death. (25. January 1981)

100,000 US gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating 8 workers. (11. February 1981)

Stardust Disaster: A fire in a Dublin nightclub kills 48 people (14. February 1981)

An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others. (26. May 1981)

Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze. (1. March 1981)

Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. (21. January 1981)

The longest professional baseball game is begun in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The game is suspended at 4:00 the next morning and finally completed on June 23. (18. April 1981)

Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity. (19. January 1981)

President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it. (17. January 1981)

Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse. (27. April 1981)

A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky. (13. February 1981)

A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time". (8. January 1981)

John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Walesa. (15. January 1981)

One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. (2. January 1981)

The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research and would go on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world. (5. March 1981)

Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs). (18. January 1981)