random retro-spective
The final days of the Berlin Wall
Germany was united on November 10th, 1989 as the Berlin Wall came down.
the retro hour: 1981
We've been through the archive and compiled everything we think you need to know about the year. To make it easier for you to find what you're looking for, everything is organised into categories.
the top stories
Police in West Yorkshire arrested a suspect for the Ripper murders
Inflation fell to 15.1 per cent
Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of America
It was announced that Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were to marry
in July
Mrs Thatcher stepped up her privatisation programme: the Government was
to sell off half of British Aerospace
Unemployment in the UK rose to 2.5 million
Pope John Paul II was shot whilst riding through St Peter's Square
Francois Mitterand became the new President of France
on the chart
Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest for the UK with the song Making
Your Mind Up (remember the now infamous dance routine which featured the
girls losing their skirts at the end?)
Mark Chapman pleaded guilty to murdering John Lennon
Bob Marley and Bill Haley died
on the tv and at the cinema
Only Fools and Horses, Brideshead Revisited and Cagney and Lacey made
their UK debuts.
Dynasty was shown for the first time in America.
Top TV shows of the year: The Benny Hill Show, This Is Your Life, Coronation
Street, To The Manor Born and Shelley.
Robert de Niro won an Oscar for Raging Bull
The Oscar for Best Picture went to Ordinary People.
The BAFTA for Best Film went to The Elephant Man.
Natalie Wood drowned.
Other box office hits were Superman II, For Your Eyes Only, Flash Gordon,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Chariots of Fire and The Jazz Singer
sports achievements and milestones
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won their first European ice dancing
gold
Oxford won the Boat Race with their first woman cox
Spurs beat Manchester City 3-2 in the FA Cup Final Replay, meanwhile Liverpool
won the European Cup and the First Division title.
Ian Botham led England to a most unlikely victory over Australia at Headingley
by 18 runs.
The first English football league match played on artificial turf took
place at Loftus Road.
The London Marathon was staged for the first time
Shergar won the Derby with the biggest winning margin ever
Steve Davis won his first World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre
in Sheffield
Bob Champion rode Aldaniti to victory in the Grand National
and finally
BT announced that it was scrapping the telegram
The BBC appointed Moira Stuart, their first black newsreader, meanwhile
TV licences rose to £46 for colour and £15 for black and white.
Garages started selling petrol by the litre
The world's largest kite was flown - it measured just under 6,000 square
feet
The French high-speed train, the TGV, was launched
PacMan machines appeared for the first time
The phrase Loony Left was invented