WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO NOVEMBER 1981
Find out what all happened May to November 1981

Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon. (24. August 1981)

U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. (7. July 1981)

Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn (25. August 1981)

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

Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York's Central Park. (19. September 1981)

Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France. (18. September 1981)

MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. (1. August 1981)

British television: on Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event scoring massive viewer numbers for the show. (27. July 1981)

President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran. (30. August 1981)

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight. (18. June 1981)

The IBM Personal Computer is released. (12. August 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)

Mahathir Mohamad becomes Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister. (16. July 1981)

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

Bihar train disaster: a passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the actual death toll is closer to 1,000. (6. June 1981)

Our Lady of Kibeho: Schoolchildren in Kibeho, Rwanda, experience the first of a series of Marian apparitions. (28. November 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)

U.S. President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor. (16. June 1981)

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