WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO DECEMBER 1981
Find out what all happened February to December 1981

6 year old Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh is kidnapped in Hollywood, Florida and is found murdered two weeks later. (27. July 1981)

Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom. (21. September 1981)

Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi. (3. August 1981)

Abolition of capital punishment in France. (9. October 1981)

Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom. (1. November 1981)

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

Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated. (6. October 1981)

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

The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. (21. May 1981)

François Mitterrand wins the presidential election and becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French Fifth Republic. (10. May 1981)

The Prime Minister of Italy Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due). (26. May 1981)

A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko. (1. September 1981)

Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.) (30. November 1981)

The opening of the Humber Bridge by Queen Elizabeth II in England, United Kingdom. (17. July 1981)

The burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century. (31. May 1981)

An earthquake registering 6.7 on the Richter scale hits Athens, killing 16 people and destroying buildings in several towns west of the city. (24. 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 United States Federal Labor Relations Authority votes to decertify the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization for its strike the previous August. (22. October 1981)

Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington. (25. June 1981)

The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication. (7. August 1981)