WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO MAY 1981
Find out what all happened February to May 1981

Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery. (26. April 1981)

Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha. (24. 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 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)

In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (25. May 1981)

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

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)

Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a Republican campaign for political prisoner status to be granted to Provisional IRA prisoners. (12. May 1981)

The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. (3. April 1981)

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. (4. April 1981)

After 19 years of presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time. (6. March 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)

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

A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries. (6. May 1981)

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

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)

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

The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War. (6. February 1981)