WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO APRIL 1981
Find out what all happened January to April 1981

Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments (10. January 1981)

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it. (9. April 1981)

President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Another 2 people are wounded at the same time. (30. March 1981)

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

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)

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

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

The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. (3. April 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)

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)

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)

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

A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198. (10. February 1981)

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

More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan. (25. April 1981)

Palau achieves self-government though it is not independent from the United States. (1. January 1981)

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