1981


HISTORY & POLITICS

The first De Lorean DMC-12 automobile  a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills 8 and injures 198.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.

The first combined heart-lung transplant in the world is performed at Stanford's Medical Center.

Pope John Paul II is shot and nearly killed by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Rome to address a general audience (2 days after Christmas in 1983, Pope John Paul goes to the prison to meet and forgive his would-be assassin).

Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.

MTV (Music Television) is launched.

The original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor was released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

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

France abolishes capital punishment.

MUSIC

Betty Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Endless Love - Diana Ross / Lionel Richie
Lady - Kenny Rogers
(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield
One That You Love - Air Supply
Tide Is High - Blondie
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton
Kiss on My List - Hall & Oates
Being With You - Smokey Robinson
Celebration - Kool & the Gang
Tainted Love - Soft Cell

TELEVISION

The Fall Guy: Starring: Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, & Heather Thomas
Colt Seavers is a stuntman, who when he is in a financial crunch, works as a bounty hunter. He is aided by his cousin Howie, who has gone to practically every college and studied every course for a semester, and his protégé Jody.
 
Hill Street Blues: Story of an overworked, under-staffed police precinct in an anonymous inner city patterned after Chicago. We follow the lives of many characters, from the lowly beat and traffic cops to the captain of the precinct himself.
   
Falcon Crest: Starring: Jane Wyman, Margaret Ladd, Susan Sullivan, Robert Foxworth, William R. Moses, Lorenzo Lamas, Abby Dalton, & Chao Li Chi
Set in the vineyards of California, this prime-time soap opera featured the conflict between two families: the Channings, headed by ruthless family matriarch Angela Channing, and the Giobertis, led by Chase and Maggie Gioberti.
   
General Hospital: Luke and Laura get married; the soap-opera is the highest-rated hour in daytime television history.

MOVIES

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Starring: Harrison Ford & Karen Allen
Renowned archeologist and expert in the occult, Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the ten commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.

Superman II: Starring: Christopher Reeve
Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to marry Lois, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.
 
Clash of the Titans: Starring: Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin
A film adaptation of the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster to save the Princess Andromeda.
 
Reds: Starring: Warren Beatty & Diane Keaton
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States. A Love Story told inside period politics at the height of the Russian Revolution.
 
Taps: Starring: Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn & Tom Cruise
Military cadets take extreme measures to insure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.
 
SPORTS

Major League Baseball goes on strike, forcing the cancellation of 38 percent of
the schedule, but play resumes with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal
Stadium.

New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup.

Bernard Hinault (France) wins the Tour de France.

Darrell Waltrip #11 won the NEXTEL Cup (formerly Winston Cup).

PEOPLE WHO DIED

Bill Haley (b. 1925) - One of the 1st American rock & roll musicians - His group Bill Haley
& His Comets had the hit song "Rock Around the Clock."
Bob Marley (b. 1945) - Jamaican singer / musician - "I Shot the Sheriff," "No Woman, No Cry," "Jammin," & "Redemption Song"
Natalie Wood (b. 1938) - Actress - as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street, Anna Muir
as a child in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Judy in Rebel Without  a Cause, Maria in West Side
Story, Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, & Maggie DuBois in The Great Race
Hans Adolf Krebs (b. 1900) - German physician/biochemst who won a Nobel Prize for identifying 2 metabolic cycles: the urea cycle & the citric acid cycle aka the Krebs cycle.

PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN

Justin Timberlake - Singer / Actor - Solo artist, member of boy band 'N Sync, as himself on The New Mickey Mouse Club, Frankie Ballenbacher in Alpha Dog, & voice of King Arthur in Shrek the Third
Paris Hilton - Heiress / Socialite / Singer
Julia Stiles - Actress - as Kat Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You, Sara Johnson in Save the Last Dance, Desi Brable in O, Becky Jackon in A Guy Thing, Paige Morgan in The Prince and Me, & Nicky in the series of Bourne (Identity) movies
Jessica Alba - Actress - as Max on Dark Angel, Sue Storm in Fantastic Four, Nancy Callahan in Sin City, & Sam in Into the Blue
Jamie-Lynn Sigler - Actress - as Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos
Natalie Portman - Actress - as Mathilda in The Professional, Padme/Queen Amadalia in Star Wars: Episodes I-III, Samantha in Garden State, & Evey Hammon in V for Vendetta
Beyonce Knowles - Singer / Actress - Solo artist, member of Destiny's Child, Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember, & Deena Jones in Dreamgirls
Serena Williams - American Tennis player
Akon - Hip Hop / R&B / Reggae singer
Britney Spears - Singer ("…Baby One More Time," "Oops!...I Did It Again," & "Toxic") & member of The New Mickey Mouse Club.