WHAT ALL HAPPENED MAY TO JUNE 1981
Find out what all happened May to June 1981

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

The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. (7. June 1981)

At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. (13. June 1981)

Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. (5. 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)

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)

A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of Islamic Republic Party. (28. June 1981)

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong. (27. June 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 burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century. (31. May 1981)

Irish Republican hunger strikers Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara die on hunger strike in Maze prison. (21. May 1981)

A Richter Scale 6.9 magnitude earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000. (11. June 1981)

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

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)

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 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)

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)

The Humber Bridge is opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It would be the world's longest single-span suspension bridge for 17 years. (24. June 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)