March 1, 1981 (Sunday)

• Bobby Sands
  Bobby Sands
  Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
  
  , a Provisional Irish Republican Army
  Provisional Irish Republican Army
  The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
  
   member incarcerated at the Maze prison
  Maze (HM Prison)
  Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
  
  , began a hunger strike seeking a change in the treatment of the other IRA member inmates.. Sands would die 65 days later, on May 5, and was followed in death by nine other prisoners.
• Robert Goizueta became CEO of Coca-Cola. During his tenure, the Cuban-born businessman tripled the company's sales, and introduced both the successful "Diet Coke" and the disastrous "New Coke"
• Born: Adam LaVorgna
  Adam LaVorgna
  -Early life:LaVorgna was born near New Haven in North Branford, Connecticut. Raised with his three siblings in North Branford, LaVorgna has been appearing on television and film since the early age of three when he first appeared on the daytime series As the World Turns.Other television work...
  
  , American TV actor (7th Heaven), in New Haven, CT

March 2, 1981 (Monday)

• The asteroids 4923 Clarke
  4923 Clarke
  4923 Clarke is an asteroid. It was discovered on March 2, 1981 by Schelte J. Bus who also discovered 5020 Asimov on the same day. It orbits within the main asteroid belt....
  
   and 5020 Asimov
  5020 Asimov
  5020 Asimov is an asteroid discovered March 2, 1981 by Schelte J. Bus, who also discovered 4923 Clarke on the same day. It is named after Isaac Asimov, the prolific American science fiction author. On average, the asteroid has an apparent magnitude of 9.4....
  
   were discovered on the same night by astronomer Schelte J. Bus
  Schelte J. Bus
  Schelte John "Bobby" Bus is an Associate Astronomer at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and Support Astronomer at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility IRTF. He received his B.S. from Caltech in 1979, and was awarded his Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999.Bus...
  
  , and named by him in honor of authors Arthur C. Clarke
  Arthur C. Clarke
  Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
  
   and Isaac Asimov
  Isaac Asimov
  Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
  
  .
• Inventors Jim Bornhorst and Rusty Brutsche applied for a patent on Vari-Lite
  Vari-Lite
  VARI*LITE is the brand name of one of the first automated, variable-colour stage lighting systems to be created. Their intelligent lighting fixtures are commonly used in theatre, concerts, television, film and corporate events.-Pre-History:...
  
  , a "computer controlled lighting system having automatically variable position, color, intensity and beam divergence", which would become a standard feature in concerts and stage productions. The system, which received U.S. Patent #4,392,187, would be unveiled on September 25 during a concert in Barcelona
  Barcelona
  Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
  
   by Genesis
  Genesis (band)
  Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
  
   in its Abacab
  Abacab
  Abacab, released in 1981, is the 11th studio album by British band Genesis. It reached No.1 in the UK, where it remained in the charts for 27 weeks.-Background and recording:...
  
   tour.
• Pakistani International Airways Flight 326 was hijacked by three gunmen shortly after takeoff from Karachi
  Karachi
  Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
  
  .
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
  Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
  Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
  
   announced that he would run for re-election as President of France.
• Born: Bryce Howard, American film actress (Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, in Los Angeles
  Los Ángeles
  Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
  
  
• Died: Ahmed Badawi
  Ahmed Badawi
  Ahmed Bdawi Sayyid Ahmed was an Egyptian Field Marshal and The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.-Early life:...
  
  , 54, Egyptian Defense Minister, in a helicopter crash at the Siwa Oasis
  Siwa Oasis
  The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, nearly 50 km east of the Libyan border, and 560 km from Cairo....
  
  .

March 3, 1981 (Tuesday)

• At the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, all 14 voting members and 8 non-voting members of the Politburo were re-elected to five-year terms, the first time that there had been no change in the Soviet leadership by a party congress. Those re-elected included First Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov
  Yuri Andropov
  Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov was a Soviet politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 12 November 1982 until his death fifteen months later.-Early life:...
  
  , Konstantin Chernenko
  Konstantin Chernenko
  Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
  
   and the youngest of the group, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
• Chun Doo Hwan was inaugurated to his first elected term as President of South Korea
  President of South Korea
  The President of the Republic of Korea is, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, chief executive of the government, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the head of state of the Republic of Korea...
  
  . Chun commuted the sentences of 5,221 prisoners, with at least 3,400 released from incarceration.
• Born: Lil' Flip
  Lil' Flip
  Wesley Eric Weston, Jr. , better known by his stage name Lil' Flip, is a American multi-platinum hiphop artist best known for his singles Sunshine, "Game Over" and Rollin on 20's from the 2 Fast 2 Furious Soundtrack....
  
  , American rapper, as Wesley Weston, Jr., in Houston
• Died: Rebecca Lancefield
  Rebecca Lancefield
  Rebecca Craighill Lancefield was a prominent American microbiologist. She joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York in 1918, and was associated with that institute throughout her long and outstanding career. Her bibliography comprises more than 50 publications published...
  
  , 86, pioneering American microbiologist

March 4, 1981 (Wednesday)

• Six days after he had come into possession of $1.2 million in cash that had fallen from an armored car, Joey Coyle
  Joey Coyle
  Joseph "Joey" Coyle was an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the middle of the street after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car...
  
   was arrested at JFK International Airport, where he had been preparing to fly to Mexico City. Coyle was acquitted of theft less than a year later. He committed suicide on August 15, 1993, a month before the release of a film based on his story, Money for Nothing
  Money for Nothing (film)
  Money for Nothing is a 1993 comedy/crime film directed by Ramón Menéndez. It is based on the life of Joey Coyle, an unemployed longshoreman in Philadelphia who, in February 1981, found $1.2 million in the middle of the street after it had fallen out of the back of an armored car. The screenplay,...
  
  
• CBS Sports
  CBS Sports
  CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
  
   paid $48,000,000 for the rights to broadcast the NCAA men's basketball tournament for three years, outbidding the NBC network, which had built the popularity of the playoffs since 1969. Bryant Gumbel
  Bryant Gumbel
  Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...
  
   would later comment, "I thought, How weird. We make the tournament a big deal and basically give it away."
• Died: Yip Harburg
  Yip Harburg
  Edgar Yipsel Harburg , known as E.Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many well-known composers...
  
  , 84, American lyricist (Over the Rainbow), in an auto accident (March 5?)

March 5, 1981 (Thursday)

• Continental Airlines
  Continental Airlines
  Continental Airlines was a major American airline now merged with United Airlines. On May 3, 2010, Continental Airlines, Inc. and UAL, Inc. announced a merger via a stock swap, and on October 1, 2010, the merger closed and UAL changed its name to United Continental Holdings, Inc...
  
   Flight 72 was briefly hijacked by a man who had been fired the day before from his job at the Los Angeles International Airport. Victor Malasauskas brought a 9-mm automatic pistol with him after buying a seat in first-class on the flight bound from LAX to Phoenix. An alert flight attendant saw that he had a concealed weapon, and all but four passengers and two flight attendants were able to get off of the airplane before he realized that he had been spotted. The last of the hostages escaped later in the day. Malasauskas, whose claim that he had a bomb turned out to be false, was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

March 6, 1981 (Friday)

• After 19 years as the anchorman of the CBS Evening News
  CBS Evening News
  CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
  
  , Walter Cronkite
  Walter Cronkite
  Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
  
   signed off for the last time. Cronkite had anchored the show since April 16, 1962.
• Born: Ellen Muth
  Ellen Muth
  Ellen Anna Muth is an American actress, known for her role as George Lass in Showtime's series Dead Like Me. Muth is a member of Intertel and Mensa.-Career:...
  
  , American actress (Dead Like Me), in Milford, CT

March 7, 1981 (Saturday)

• John W. Hinckley, Jr. was met at the airport in Denver by his parents, who followed the advice of his psychiatrist and barred him from returning home. The senior Hinckley would later testify, in what he would describe as "the greatest mistake of my life" that he gave his son "a couple of hundred dollars" and told him "O.K., you're on your own. Do whatever you want to." Twenty-three days later, the younger Hinckley carried out an assassination attempt against the President of the United States.
• Eugenia Charles
  Eugenia Charles
  Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, DBE was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. She was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister, as well as the nation's longest serving prime minister...
  
  , the Prime Minister of Dominica
  Prime Minister of Dominica
  The Prime Minister of Dominica is the head of government in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Nominally, the position was created on November 3, 1978 when Dominica gained independence from the United Kingdom...
  
  , announced the arrests of former Prime Minister Patrick John
  Patrick John
  Colonel Patrick Roland John was the Prime Minister of Dominica as well as the Premier of Dominica. During his premiership Dominica gained independence from the United Kingdom and he became the first Prime Minister of Dominica. He was a successful trade union leader and a mayor of Roseau before...
  
   and Defence Force Commander Frederick Newton. Charles said that a coup had been planned for March 14, and she added "I would hope that death would be the penalty, but I can't say that for sure."
• Died: Bosley Crowther
  Bosley Crowther
  Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
  
  , 75, American film critic for the New York Time; Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
  Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
  Hildegard "Hilde" Krahwinkel Sperling was a German tennis player, although she became a Danish national after marrying Svend Sperling from Denmark in 1933. She is generally regarded as the second-greatest female German tennis player in history, behind Steffi Graf...
  
  , 72, American tennis player, French Open champion 1935-37; Chester Bitterman, 28, American missionary taken hostage in Colombia; Mel C. Yorda, 18, first person to ever be murdered at Disneyland; and Kiril Kondrashin
  Kiril Kondrashin
  Kirill Petrovich Kondrashin , was a Russian conductor.-Early life:...
  
  , 67, Soviet conductor who defected in 1978

March 8, 1981 (Sunday)

• An accident at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant
  Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant
  The is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. It is operated by the Japan Atomic Power Company. The total site area amounts to 5.12 km2 with 4.80 km2, or 94% of it, being green area that the company is working to preserve.The Tsuruga site is a dual site with the...
  
   in Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
  
   led to the spill of thousands of gallons of radioactive wastewater. Fifty-six plant employees were exposed to radiation after being sent to mop up the leak. The incident was not revealed to the public until six weeks later, on April 21.
• In Argentina
  Argentina
  Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
  
  , an express train, that was bringing 800 passengers back from vacation, crashed into two derailed fuel tanker cars, killing 45 people and injuring 120. The "Firefly" express was returning to Buenos Aires
  Buenos Aires
  Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
  
   from the seaside resort of Mar del Plata
  Mar del Plata
  Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...
  
  .

March 9, 1981 (Monday)

• The first successful human heart-lung transplant
  Heart-lung transplant
  A heart–lung transplant is a procedure carried out to replace both heart and lungs in a single operation. Due to a shortage of suitable donors, it is a rare procedure; only about a hundred such transplants are performed each year in the USA....
  
   was performed. A team at the Stanford University Medical Center
  Stanford University Medical Center
  Stanford University Medical Center represents the Stanford Hospital and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and is located at 300 Pasteur Drive in Stanford, California. Stanford Hospital provides both general acute care services and tertiary medical care for patients locally, nationally and...
  
  , led by Dr. Bruce Reitz
  Bruce Reitz
  Bruce Reitz is a Board Certified Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Reitz is one of the foremost cardiac surgeons in the world and, during his term as chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic surgery, he played a major role in keeping Stanford at the forefront of education, research and patient care in...
  
  , used a new technique that retained a portion of the recipient's right atrium
  Right atrium
  The right atrium is one of four chambers in the hearts of mammals and archosaurs...
  
  . The recipient was Mary Gohlke, a 45 year old woman from Mesa, Arizona
  Mesa, Arizona
  According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Mesa was as follows:* White: 77.1% * Hispanic or Latino : 26.54%* Black or African American: 3.5%* Two or more races: 3.4%* Native American: 2.4%...
  
  , with end-stage primary pulmonary hypertension. The donor was a 15 year old boy who had died from severe head trauma two days earlier
• Dan Rather
  Dan Rather
  Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
  
   began a nearly 24 year tenure as lead anchorman for the CBS Evening News
  CBS Evening News
  CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
  
  , lasting until he was pressured to retire on March 9, 2005.
• Born: Antonio Bryant
  Antonio Bryant
  Antonio Bryant is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft...
  
  , NFL wide receiver, in Miami
• Died: Max Delbrück
  Max Delbrück
  Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück was a German-American biophysicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Delbrück was born in Berlin, German Empire...
  
  , 74, German biophysicist, 1969 Nobel Laureate; and Steven Judy, 24, Indiana murderer, fourth person to be executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977.

March 10, 1981 (Tuesday)

• The eleven year controversy over Roger Coleman began when the body of Wanda Fay McCoy was discovered in her home in Grundy, Virginia
  Grundy, Virginia
  Grundy is a town in Buchanan County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,105 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Buchanan County. The town is noted for its educational institutions and their role in the town's economic rebirth. In the past, the town served as a stopover for Union...
  
  . Coleman, her brother-in-law, was convicted of her rape and murder based on blood and hair evidence, as well as testimony from a cellmate, and sentenced to death. Coleman fought for a new trial and maintained his innocence all the way to his execution in the electric chair
  Electric chair
  Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
  
   on May 21, 1992. More than 13 years later, DNA testing confirmed that the pubic hairs found on the victim had indeed been those of Coleman, and that the blood found on his pants had been that of McCoy. "
• U.S. Patent #4,255,811 was issued to Dr. Roy L. Adler
  Data Encryption Standard
  The Data Encryption Standard is a block cipher that uses shared secret encryption. It was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard for the United States in 1976 and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally. It is...
  
   under the title "Key Control Block Cipher System" for a data encryption algorithm
  Algorithm
  In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
  
   developed by him in 1974 while he was employed at IBM
  IBM
  International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
  
  . Besides being applied in cryptography, the 128-bit encoding alogrithm was also used in creating more secure keycard entry systems.
• Born: Samuel Eto'o
  Samuel Eto'o
  Samuel Eto'o Fils is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala. He is also the current captain of the Cameroon national team.Eto'o trained at Kadji Sports Academy...
  
  , Cameroonian footballer, in Nkon

March 11, 1981 (Wednesday)

• The start of an uprising, that would lead to the independence of the Republic of Kosovo
  Republic of Kosovo
  Kosovo , officially the Republic of Kosovo is a partially recognised state and a disputed territory in the Balkans...
  
   from Yugoslavia
  Yugoslavia
  Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
  
  , was student discontent over inefficient food service at the University of Pristina. Tired of being made to wait in line, for hours, for poor quality food, students began demonstrating. Within days, the protests over conditions for students turned into discontent over the treatment of the ethnic Albanian population by the Serbian majority, and then to rioting and demands for an independent Kosovar nation.
• Joseph Sardler, 32, of Mount Airy, North Carolina
  Mount Airy, North Carolina
  Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,388.-History:Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem and Galax, Virginia. It was named for a nearby plantation...
  
  , had his sight restored after five years of blindness
  Blindness
  Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
  
  . Sardler had fallen down a flight of stairs and banged his head, then regained the vision in his left eye. His physician, Dr. J. Dale Simmons, reported that Sadler "can read now and recognize things that he could not before."
• Born: LeToya Luckett
  LeToya Luckett
  LeToya Nicole Luckett , known professionally as LeToya, is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She was a member of the R&B group Destiny's Child, with whom she won two Grammy Awards and released many successful commercial recordings.After signing a record deal with Capitol Records, she's...
  
  , American singer (Destiny's Child), in Houston, and David Anders
  David Anders
  David Anders is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on Alias, and as Adam Monroe on Heroes. Although Anders is American, both of these noted roles required him to use an English accent.-Early life:Anders was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, to parents...
  
  , American TV actor (Alias), in Grants Pass, OR
• Died: Maurice Oldfield
  Maurice Oldfield
  Sir Maurice Oldfield GCMG, CBE , was a British intelligence officer and espionage administrator.-Early life:...
  
  , 65, chief of MI-6 1973-78

March 12, 1981 (Thursday)

• Women, children and other inhabitants of the El Salvador
  El Salvador
  El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
  
   village of El Junquillo
  Ahuachapán
  Ahuachapán is a city and municipality and the capital of the Ahuachapán Department in western El Salvador. The municipality including the city covers an area of 244.84 km² and as of 2007 has a population of 110,511 people...
  
   (in the Morazan Department
  Morazán Department
  Morazán is a department of El Salvador. Located in the northeast part of the country, its capital is San Francisco Gotera. It covers a total surface area of 1,447 km² and has a population of more than 200,000.-History:...
  
  ) were murdered on orders of Salvadoran Army Captain Carlos Medina Garay, at the conclusion of nine-day long military operation against rebellious forces. The details of the massacre were brought out in an investigation more than a decade later by the "Commission on Truth", which had been created as part of a 1992 peace agreement.
• Atlanta murders of 1979-1981: Timothy Hill, 13, disappeared in Atlanta, ten days after his 15 year old friend Joseph Bell had vanished. Hill's body would be found on March 30, and Bell's on April 19. They would prove to be the last of 23 African-American children (16 or younger) to be murdered in Atlanta over a nearly two year period. Wayne Williams
  Wayne Williams
  Wayne Bertram Williams is an American serial killer who committed most of the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred in 1979 through 1981. In January 1982, Williams was found guilty of the murder of two adult men...
  
  , who was suspected in the killings, was charged with and convicted of the murders of two adult victims.

March 13, 1981 (Friday)

• The first world speedcubing
  Speedcubing
  Speedcubing is the activity of solving a Rubik's Cube or related puzzle as quickly as possible...
  
   championship tournament, requiring participants to properly align the squares of a Rubik's Cube
  Rubik's Cube
  Rubik's Cube is a 3-D mechanical puzzle invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.Originally called the "Magic Cube", the puzzle was licensed by Rubik to be sold by Ideal Toy Corp. in 1980 and won the German Game of the Year special award for Best Puzzle that...
  
   in the shortest amount of time, took place in Munich
  Munich
  Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
  
  . Jury Fröschl won the first competition with a time of 38 seconds.

March 14, 1981 (Saturday)

• The hijacking of Pakistan International Airlines
  Pakistan International Airlines
  Pakistan International Airlines Corporation commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier airline of Pakistan. The airline has its head office on the grounds of Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. and operates scheduled services to 24 domestic destinations and 38 international destinations in 27...
  
   Flight 326 ended, as gunmen freed more than 100 hostages who had been held captive on the jet for nearly two weeks. Three gunmen had seized the Boeing 720
  Boeing 720
  The Boeing 720 is a four-engine narrow-body short- to medium-range passenger jet airliner. Developed by Boeing in the late 1950s from the Boeing 707, the 720 has a shorter fuselage and less range...
  
   jet during a flight from Karachi
  Karachi
  Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
  
   to Peshawar
  Peshawar
  Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
  
   on March 2 and commandeered the jet to Kabul
  Kabul
  Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
  
  , and one passenger was murdered. Pakistan released 55 prisoners to secure the release of the hostages.]
• DePaul University
  DePaul University
  DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
  
  's basketball team, unbeaten and ranked #1 during most of the season, was upset by St. Joseph's University, 49-48, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
• Nineteen residents of the Royal Beach Hotel in Chicago
  Chicago
  Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
  
  , a "skid row
  Skid row
  A skid row or skid road is a run-down or dilapidated urban area with a large, impoverished population. The term originally referred literally to a path along which working men skidded logs. Its current sense appears to have originated in the Pacific Northwest...
  
  " apartment for transients, died in fire caused by faulty wiring.

March 15, 1981 (Sunday)

• Philip C. Testa, crime boss of the Philadelphia mob and nicknamed "The Chicken Man", was murdered by a car bomb as he attempted to walk into his home at 2117 Porter Street.
• Francis Hughes
  Francis Hughes
  Francis Hughes was an Irish volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army . Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his arrest following a shoot-out with the Special Air Service in which an SAS soldier was killed...
  
   became the second inmate at Maze Prison to begin a hunger strike, joining fellow Provisional IRA member Bobby Sands
  Bobby Sands
  Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....
  
   in refusing food. Hughes would also become the second of the strikers to die, succumbing on May 12, one week after the death of Sands.
• Born: Young Buck
  Young Buck
  David Darnell Brown , also known as Young Buck, is an American Southern rapper. Buck is a former member of the New York City Hip-Hop group G-Unit, also a former artist of G-Unit Records as of Nov 26, 2011...
  
  , American rapper, as David D. Brown in Nashville
• Died: René Clair
  René Clair
  René Clair born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker.-Biography:He was born in Paris and grew up in the Les Halles quarter. He attended the Lycée Montaigne and the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. During World War I, he served as an ambulance driver. After the war, he started a career as a journalist...
  
  , 82, French film director

March 16, 1981 (Monday)

• Ronald Biggs, a participant in the Great Train Robbery of 1963
  Great Train Robbery (1963)
  The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a £2.6 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered...
  
   in Great Britain, had been living freely in Brazil after escaping from prison in 1965. Biggs was kidnapped after being lured to a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro
  Rio de Janeiro
  Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
  
   on the pretext that he was to be photographed for a book, then put on a yacht and taken to Barbados
  Barbados
  Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
  
  . The government of Barbados refused to allow Biggs to be extradited back to the United Kingdom
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
  
  , and Biggs was allowed to return to Brazil after six weeks. Biggs voluntarily returned to Britain at the age of 71 and stayed in prison from 2001 to 2008.

March 17, 1981 (Tuesday)

• In Italy
  Italy
  Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
  
  , the scandal of Propaganda Due
  Propaganda Due
  Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
  
   began when police raided the villa of Licio Gelli
  Licio Gelli
  Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
  
   villa at Arezzo
  Arezzo
  Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
  
  , and discovered a list of 962 members of the secret society "P2", suspected in the embezzlement by Roberto Calvi
  Roberto Calvi
  Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...
  
   of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Banco Ambrosiano.

March 18, 1981 (Wednesday)

• The television show The Greatest American Hero
  The Greatest American Hero
  The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama television series that aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981...
  
  premiered on ABC, starring William Katt
  William Katt
  William Theodore Katt is an American film and television actor, best known as the star of The Greatest American Hero. He is also known for playing Tommy Ross, the ill-fated prom date of Carrie White in the film version of Carrie and Paul Drake Jr. in the Perry Mason TV movies...
  
   as Ralph Hinkley, an ordinary teacher who was given super powers, but not the knowledge of how to control them. Less than two weeks later, after John W. Hinckley, Jr. shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan
  Ronald Reagan
  Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
  
  , the character was renamed "Mr. H." The show's theme song, Believe It or Not (sung by Joey Scarbury
  Joey Scarbury
  Joey Scarbury is an adult contemporary singer best known for his hit song, "Theme from The Greatest American Hero ", in 1981.-Childhood and early music career:...
  
  ) became a hit single, rising to #2 on the Billboard Top 40.
• Born: Fabian Cancellara
  Fabian Cancellara
  Fabian Cancellara is a Swiss professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam . A time trial specialist, he is a four-time World Time Trial Champion and is the current Olympic gold medalist...
  
  , Swiss bicyclist and three time world champion on time trial (2006, 2007, 2008 Olympics, 2009), in Wohlen bei Bern
  Wohlen bei Bern
  Wohlen bei Bern is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.-Geography:Wohlen has an area of . Of this area, 55% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.6% is forested...
  
  

March 19, 1981 (Thursday)

• Two workers died and four were injured after a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia
  Space Shuttle Columbia
  Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...
  
  , becoming the first of 14 deaths associated with the American space shuttle program. After a test-firing of the engines and the sounding of the "all clear", the group of six Rockwell International technicians had walked into a chamber of the shuttle, unaware that the area was filled primarily with nitrogen gas, and almost no oxygen. John Bjornstad died immediately, and Forrest Cole was taken off life support on April 1. The Columbia itself would be destroyed on January 16, 2003 on its 28th mission, killing all seven of the astronauts on board.
• Arkansas
  Arkansas
  Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
  
   became the first state to require the teaching of "Creationism", as Governor Frank White signed into law Senate Resolution 590, "An act to require balanced treatment of creation-science and evolution-science in public schools". The act, challenged later in McLean v. Arkansas
  McLean v. Arkansas
  McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, 529 F. Supp. 1255, 1258-1264 , was a 1981 legal case in Arkansas.A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by various parents, religious groups and organizations, biologists, and others who argued that the...
  
  , had passed the state Senate 22-2 and the state House 69-18.
• Born: Kolo Touré
  Kolo Touré
  Kolo Habib Touré is an Ivorian footballer who plays for Manchester City and Ivory Coast. Touré is a central defender. He is the elder brother of Manchester City team-mate Yaya Touré and Makasa's Ibrahim Touré.-Arsenal:...
  
  , Ivorian footballer, in Bouake
  Bouaké
  Bouaké is the second largest city in Côte d'Ivoire, with a population of 775,300 . It is the main urban settlement of the Bouaké Department with a population exceeding 1.2 million, in the Vallée du Bandama Region...
  
  

March 20, 1981 (Friday)

• The first world congress of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
  International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
  is a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 63 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens who share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation...
  
   convened, in Airlie, Virginia
  Airlie, Virginia
  Airlie is a small unincorporated community in Fauquier County, Virginia situated between US Route 17 and US Route 29. The village itself runs along State Route 605, which is named Airlie Road. It is home to the Airlie Conference Center which also owns the private Airlie Airport located on Airlie Rd...
  
  , with 80 physicians from 12 nations in attendance, and on the same day, the first American conference regarding a nuclear freeze campaign convened at Georgetown University
  Georgetown University
  Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
  
  . Journalist John Barron alleged later that both events, which came a month after Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev
  Leonid Brezhnev
  Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev  – 10 November 1982) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , presiding over the country from 1964 until his death in 1982. His eighteen-year term as General Secretary was second only to that of Joseph Stalin in...
  
   had called for a moratorium on building nuclear weapons, had been masterminded by the KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency.
• Died: Gerry Bertier
  Gerry Bertier
  Gerry Bertier was a prominent Virginia high school American football player. He is best known for his participation on the 1971 Virginia State Champion T. C. Williams High School team and their portrayal in the Disney film Remember the Titans. After the conclusion of the 1971 season, Bertier was...
  
  , 27, who was later portrayed in the 2000 film Remember the Titans, in an automobile accident; and Irving Jaffee
  Irving Jaffee
  Irving Warren Jaffee was an American speed skater who won two gold medals at the 1932 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there along with his compatriot Jack Shea.-Early life:Jaffee, who was Jewish, was born to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia in 1896...
  
  , 74, American speed skater, gold medalist in 5000 and 10000 in 1932.

March 21, 1981 (Saturday)

• Michael Donald
  Michael Donald
  Michael Donald was a young African American man who was murdered by two Ku Klux Klan members in Mobile, Alabama, in 1981. The murder is sometimes referred to as the last recorded lynching in the United States.-Lynching:...
  
  , a young African-American male who had been selected at random by a pair of racists, was kidnapped and murdered in Mobile, Alabama
  Mobile, Alabama
  Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
  
   by James Llewelyn Knowles and Henry F. Hayes, two members of the United Klans of America
  United Klans of America
  United Klans of America Inc. was one of the largest Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s, and was the most violent Klan organization of its time. Its headquarters were the Anglo-Saxon Club outside...
  
   who said later that they had been outraged when a mistrial had been declared in the trial of a black criminal defendant. Donald's mother sued the Klan organization and won a seven million dollar verdict, effectively bankrupting the white supremacist group.

March 22, 1981 (Sunday)

• Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa became the first person from Mongolia
  Mongolia
  Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
  
   to travel into outer space, launched on Soyuz 39
  Soyuz 39
  Soyuz 39 was a Soviet space flight.-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6800 kg*Perigee: 197.5 km*Apogee: 282.8 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 89.01 minutes-Mission highlights:...
  
   along with Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  Vladimir Dzhanibekov
  Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov is a former cosmonaut who made five flights.He was born in the remote area of Iskandar in Tashkent Province, Uzbekistan. He changed his surname from Krysin when he married to honor his wife's family, which was noble kin of the descendants of the medieval Kazakh...
  
  . The two cosmonauts returned to earth after almost 8 days on the Salyut 6
  Salyut 6
  Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
  
   space station.
• Born: Shawn Mims
  Mims (rapper)
  -Career:Mims graduated from Westbury High School and was born in Westbury Ny enrolled at Nassau Community College. He left the institution after two months of classes to pursue a career in rap music. He began spending time in Harlem with Cam'ron as an acquaintance...
  
  , American rapper (This Is Why I'm Hot), in New York City
• Died: Jack McCain, 70, commander of Pacific forces in Vietnam War; while returning from Europe;; umbo Elliot/li>

March 23, 1981 (Monday)

• The cost of mailing a letter in the United States went up 20%, as the price of a first-class stamp was increased from 15 cents to 18 cents. The price increase had taken effect the day before, when American post offices were closed. "Mail Rate Will Go Up To 18 Cents March 22", Toledo Blade, March 11, 1981, p1
• Died: Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck
  Claude Auchinleck
  Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE , nicknamed "The Auk", was a British army commander during World War II. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he developed a love of the country and a lasting affinity for the soldiers...
  
  , 96, British military leader during World War II; Beatrice Tinsley
  Beatrice Tinsley
  Beatrice Muriel Hill Tinsley was a New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist whose research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve with time.-Life:...
  
  , 40, British astronomer; Mike Hailwood
  Mike Hailwood
  Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, MBE, GM was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer regarded by many as one of the greatest racers of all time. He was known as "Mike The Bike" because of his natural riding ability...
  
  , 40, British motorcyclist and ten time world motorcycle racing champion, in an auto accident

March 24, 1981 (Tuesday)

• The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany
  West Germany
  West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
  
  ) carried out the largest crusade against Nazis since that nation's founding in 1949, raiding hundreds of homes of suspected Neo-Nazi members and confiscating party literature and propaganda, much of it written by Ernst Zündel
  Ernst Zündel
  Ernst Christof Friedrich Zündel is a German Holocaust denier and pamphleteer who was jailed several times in Canada for publishing literature which "is likely to incite hatred against an identifiable group" and for being a threat to national security, in the United States for overstaying his visa,...
  
  . "Neo-Nazi Propaganda Is Seized in West Germany", New York Times, March 25, 1981; Alan T. Davies, Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992) p265;

March 25, 1981 (Wednesday)

• Tamil
  Tamil people
  Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
  
   separatist leader Selvarajah Yogachandran
  Selvarajah Yogachandran
  Selvarajah Yogachandran , also known as Kuttimani was one of the leaders of former Tamil militant organization TELO from Sri Lanka. He started his career as a smuggler...
  
  , better known by his code name of "Kuttimani", carried out the largest robbery, to that time, in the history of Sri Lanka
  Sri Lanka
  Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
  
  . In an operation planned jointly by his TELO
  Telo
  Telo is one of the 77 woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. This woreda has its origins in the province Chetta of the former Kingdom of Kaffa. A triangle-shaped sub-unit of the Keficho Shekicho Zone, Telo is bordered on the west by Decha, at the northwest...
  
   organization and the Tamil Tigers, Kuttmani and his gunmen ambushed an armored truck that was taking cash from Neervely
  Neervely
  Neervely is a village located in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It is located seven miles from Jaffna along the Point Pedro road.-Education in Neervely:*Attiar Hindu College, Neervely was established in 1929.*Four other schools-Bank robbery:...
  
   to Jaffna
  Jaffna
  Jaffna is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna district located on a peninsula of the same name. Jaffna is approximately six miles away from Kandarodai which served as a famous emporium in the Jaffna peninsula from classical...
  
  , killed its guards, and took 7,900,000 Sri Lankan rupee
  Sri Lankan rupee
  The rupee is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and is generally written Rs. The rupee (Sinhala: රුපියල , Tamil: ரூபாய்) (sign: ₨; code: LKR) is the currency of Sri Lanka, divided into 100 cents. It is issued by the Central Bank of Sri...
  
  s, worth roughly $400,000 at the time, to finance the rebel movement. Kuttmani and his henchmen became the subject of a massive manhunt, and were arrested eleven days later.

March 26, 1981 (Thursday)

• Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.
  Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.
  -External links:* * *...
  
  : Comedienne Carol Burnett
  Carol Burnett
  Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
  
   won a verdict of 1.6 million dollars against the National Enquirer for libel. In its issue of March 12, 1976, the Enquirer had run a story entitled "Carol Burnett and Henry K. in Row", alleging that Burnett had been disruptive "in a Washington restaurant", and implying that she had been intoxicated.
• The British
  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
  
   Social Democratic Party
  Social Democratic Party (UK)
  The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
  
   was launched at the Connaught Rooms in London.
• Born: Jay Sean, British rapper, as Kamaljit Singh Jhooti in London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
  

March 27, 1981 (Friday)

• 1981 warning strike in Poland
  1981 warning strike in Poland
  In the early spring of 1981, the quickly growing Solidarity movement faced one of the biggest challenges in its short history, when during the Bydgoszcz events, several members of Solidarity, including Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz and Roman Bartoszcze, were brutally "pacified" by the...
  
  : Beginning at 8:00 in the morning, millions of workers in Poland
  Poland
  Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
  
  , representing the majority of that nation's labor force, walked off of their jobs for four hours in a demonstration of support for the Solidarity movement. The employees then returned to their posts at noon.
• The United Mine Workers
  United Mine Workers
  The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners and coal technicians. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada...
  
   went on strike at 12:01 am, with 160,000 American coal miners walking off of their jobs.
• At 3:10 pm in Cocoa Beach, Florida
  Cocoa Beach, Florida
  Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 12,482 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates of 2008, the city had a population of 11,920...
  
  , eleven construction workers were killed when the five story tall Harbour Cay Condominiums building collapsed. A bucket of wet concrete had slipped from a crane and fallen through the building's roof, and into the cloors below.
• Born: JJ Lin
  JJ Lin
  JJ Lin is a Singaporean Mandopop Singer-songwriter, Composer and Actor based in Taiwan. JJ Lin is managed by Ocean Butterflies. Lin won Best New Artist for his work on his debut album Music Voyager at the 15th Golden Melody Awards in 2004....
  
  , Taiwan based R&B singer, as Lín Jùn Jié in Singapore
  Singapore
  Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
  
  
• Died: Juri Kukk
  Jüri Kukk
  Jüri Kukk was an Estonian professor of chemistry, a Soviet dissident, who died in a Soviet labor camp after several months of hunger strike and psychiatric treatments....
  
  , Estonian professor of chemistry, in a Soviet labor camp

March 28, 1981 (Saturday)

• Phil Mahre
  Phil Mahre
  Philip Mahre is a former champion alpine ski racer, widely regarded as one of the greatest American skiers of all time...
  
   became the first American to ever win the world championship in skiing.
• Garuda Indonesia Flight 206 was hijacked and flown from Indonesia to Thailand.
• Born: Gareth David-Lloyd
  Gareth David-Lloyd
  Gareth David-Lloyd is a Welsh actor best known for his role as Ianto Jones in the British science fiction television programme Torchwood.- Early life :...
  
  , Welsh TV actor (Ianto Jones on Torchwood), in Bettws, Newport
  Bettws, Newport
  Bettws is an electoral ward and coterminous community of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is one of the largest modern housing estates in Europe....
  
  

March 29, 1981 (Sunday)

• The first London Marathon
  London Marathon
  The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
  
   was held, with 7,500 runners. The race was won jointly by Dick Beardsley
  Dick Beardsley
  Dick Beardsley is an American long-distance runner best known for his close finish with Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon.-Running career:...
  
   of the United States and Inge Simonsen
  Inge Simonsen
  Inge Simonsen is a Norwegian distance runner who tied for first place in the inaugural 1981 London Marathon. In that race, he and the other winner, American Dick Beardsley, intentionally crossed the finish line, in 2:11:48, holding hands in a dead heat...
  
   of Norway, who both crossed the finish line at 2:11:48.
• General Roberto Viola was sworn in as President of Argentina
  President of Argentina
  The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...
  
  , succeeding General Jorge Videla. Viola would be overthrown on December 11.
• Died: Eric Williams
  Eric Williams
  Eric Eustace Williams served as the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He served from 1956 until his death in 1981. He was also a noted Caribbean historian, and is widely regarded as "The Father of The Nation."...
  
  , Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago since 1956. He was succeeded by George Chambers
  George Chambers
  George Michael Chambers was the second Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Born in Port of Spain, Chambers joined the People's National Movement in 1956, and was elected to Parliament representing the St. Anns East seat...
  
  .

March 30, 1981 (Monday)

• Reagan assassination attempt
  Reagan assassination attempt
  The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr...
  
  : At 2:25 pm, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
  Ronald Reagan
  Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
  
   was shot in the chest as he walked out of the Washington Hilton Hotel to his limousine. John Hinckley, Jr.
  John Hinckley, Jr.
  John Warnock Hinckley, Jr., attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, as the culmination of an effort to impress teen actress Jodie Foster. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has remained under institutional psychiatric care since...
  
   fired six shots from a Röhm RG-14
  Röhm (RG)
  Röhm, often referred as simply RG, is a German brand of firearms and related shooting equipment. Since 2010 Röhm RG is a brand name of UMAREX GmbH & Co. KG.- History :...
  
   .22 caliber pistol, striking Press Secretary James Brady
  James Brady
  James Scott "Jim" Brady is a former Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary under U.S. President Ronald Reagan...
  
   and Washington D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty with the first two bullets, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy with the fourth, and the presidential limousine with the last two shots. The sixth bullet ricocheted off of the limo and struck Reagan. Reagan was rushed into surgery at 3:24 pm and remained in the hospital for two weeks.
• Indiana University
  Indiana University
  Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
  
   won the 1981 NCAA men's basketball championship, defeating the University of North Carolina
  University of North Carolina
  Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
  
   63-50 after the NCAA elected against postponing the matchup. Virginia defeated L.S.U. 78-74 to win third place in the consolation game, which was discontinued after 1981. The Academy Awards, scheduled for the same night, were postponed to the nexst day.
• Died: DeWitt Wallace
  DeWitt Wallace
  DeWitt Wallace , also known as William Roy was a United States magazine publisher. He co-founded Reader's Digest with his wife Lila Wallace and published the first issue in 1922.Born in St...
  
  , 91, co-founder of Reader's Digest magazine; and Sherman Edwards
  Sherman Edwards
  Sherman Edwards was an American songwriter.-Biography:Edwards was born in New York City and was raised in Weequahic, New Jersey, where he attended Weequahic High School. He attended Columbia University, where he majored in history. Throughout college, Edwards moonlighted, playing jazz piano for...
  
  , 61, American musical songwriter; and Edith Wilson, gospel singer who also portrayed Aunt Jemima
  Aunt Jemima
  Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. The Quaker Oats Company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April 1937...
  
   in television commercials.

March 31, 1981 (Tuesday)

• At 2:40 pm in Bangkok
  Bangkok
  Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
  
  , Indonesian commandos successfully rescued all hostages on board the hijacked Garuda Indonesia Flight 206, after getting permission from Thailand authorities.-- 2:40 pm in Bangkok
• Chicago's Mayor Jane Byrne
  Jane Byrne
  Jane Margaret Byrne was the first and to date only female Mayor of Chicago. She served from April 16, 1979 to April 29, 1983. Chicago is the largest city in the United States to have had a female mayor as of 2011.-Early political career:...
  
   and her husband moved into the Cabrini–Green public housing project in an unprecedented demonstration of commitment to the needs of her lower income constituents. Byrne took up residence in Apartment 402 at 1160 Sedgewick Road for several months.