Events from the year 1981 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
Events
January 3 January – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, dies at Kensington Palace aged 97. 4 January – British Leyland workers vote to accept a peace formula in the Longbridge plant strike. 5 January Peter Sutcliffe, a 34-year-old lorry driver from Bradford arrested on 2 January in Sheffield, is charged with being the notorious serial killer known as the "Yorkshire Ripper", who is believed to have murdered thirteen women and attacked seven others across northern England since 1975. BBC Two's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television adaptation begins airing; it subsequently receives a Royal Television Society award as "Most Original Programme" of the year. Cabinet reshuffle: Norman St John-Stevas and Angus Maude leave the Cabinet while Leon Brittan and Norman Fowler join the Cabinet. 7 January – A parcel bomb addressed to the Prime Minister is intercepted at the sorting office. 8 January A terrorist bomb attack takes place on the RAF base at Uxbridge. The report of the Royal Commission on criminal procedure is published. 9 January – The funeral of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, before her burial at Frogmore. 13 January – The prison officers' overtime ban ends. 14 January – The British Nationality Bill is published. 15 January – Two soldiers are found guilty of murder in Northern Ireland. 16 January Northern Ireland civil rights campaigner and former Westminster MP Bernadette McAliskey is shot at her home in County Tyrone. Inflation has fallen to 16.1%. 78% of British Steel Corporation workers vote in favour of the chairman's "survival" plan. 18 January – Ten people are killed in the New Cross house fire. On 25 January, another victim dies in hospital. 21 January Sir Norman Stronge, 86, and his son James, 48, both former Stormont MPs, are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Two divers trapped below the North Sea are brought to safety to the surface. 22 January – Australian newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch agrees to buy The Times provided an agreement can be reached with the unions. 24 January – A Labour Party conference at Wembley votes for election of the party leader by electoral college with 40% votes for unions, 30% Labour MPs and 30% constituencies. 25 January – The Limehouse Declaration: four right-wing Labour MPs, Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen (the "Gang of Four"), announce plans to form a separate political party – the Social Democratic Party (SDP). On 26 January, nine more Labour MPs declare their support for the new party. 26 January – Sir Keith Joseph, Secretary of State for Industry, announces further financial support for British Leyland. 27 January – Bill Rodgers resigns from the Shadow Cabinet following his defection to the newly formed SDP. He is replaced by Tony Benn. 28 January Sir Hugh Fraser is removed as Chairman of the House of Fraser. Fresh damage is caused in cells at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland. 29 January – The UK Government welcomes plans by the Japanese car firm Nissan to build Datsun cars in Britain. 30 January – David Owen tells his constituency party that he will not stand again as Labour candidate.
February 2 February – The report on the Brixton prison escape is released and the Governor is transferred to an administrative post. 4 February – Margaret Thatcher announces that the Government will sell half of its shares in British Aerospace. 5 February – Actor Lord Laurence Olivier, cancer researcher Sir Peter Medawar and humanitarian Leonard Cheshire are admitted into the Order of Merit as announced in the New Year Honours list. 6 February The Liverpool-registered coal ship Nellie M is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat in Lough Foyle. The Government drops two controversial clauses of the Nationality Bill. The Canadian Minister warns British MPs against delaying changes in the Canadian constitution. 9 February – Shirley Williams resigns from Labour's national executive committee. 11 February – Closure of the Talbot car plant in Linwood, Scotland, is announced. 12 February Purchase of The Times and The Sunday Times from The Thomson Corporation by Rupert Murdoch's News International is confirmed. Murdoch also announces that an agreement with the unions has been reached about manning levels and new technology. Ian Paisley is suspended from the House of Commons for four days after calling the Northern Ireland Secretary a liar. The National Union of Students calls off a 5-week strike. 13 February – The National Coal Board announces widespread pit closures. 15 February – The first Sunday games of the Football League take place. 16 February – Two are jailed in connection with the death of industrialist Thomas Niedermayer. 17 February – Princess Anne is elected Chancellor of London University. 18 February The Government withdraws plans to close 23 mines after negotiations with the National Union of Mineworkers. Harold Evans is appointed editor of The Times. 20 February Four more MPs announce their intention to leave the Labour Party. Peter Sutcliffe is charged with the murder of thirteen women in the north of England. 21 February – 30,000 people march in an unemployment protest in Glasgow. 24 February – The engagement of the 32-year-old Prince of Wales (now Charles III), and 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer is officially announced. 25 February Margaret Thatcher arrives in Washington, D.C., for a four-day visit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The Observer is taken over by "Tiny" Rowland, head of Lonrho. 26 February The English cricket team withdraws from the Second Test after the Guyanese government serves a deportation order on Robin Jackman. El Salvador dominates the first day of talks between Thatcher and Reagan. 27 February Three British missionaries released from Iran land in Athens. Sir Harold Wilson, former Prime Minister (1964–70, 1974–76) announces his retirement from Parliament at the next general election. The Archbishop of Canterbury advises the church to see homosexuality as a handicap not a sin. The Observer takeover is referred to the Monopolies Commission.
March 3 March – Homebase opens its first DIY and garden centre superstore, at Croydon, Surrey. 5 March – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair Research, going on to sell over 1.5 million units worldwide. 9 March John Lambe, a 37-year-old lorry driver, is sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of twelve women in the space of less than four years. Thousands of civil servants hold a one-day strike over pay. 17 March – The Conservative Government's budget is met with uproar due to further public spending cuts. 21 March Home Secretary William Whitelaw allows Wolverhampton council to place a fourteen-day ban on political marches in the West Midlands town, which has a growing problem of militant race riots and was faced with the threat of a National Front march in two days time. After seven years and the longest time playing the title role, Tom Baker leaves Doctor Who and is replaced by Peter Davison in the final episode of Logopolis. Unemployment now stands at 2,400,000 or 10% of the workforce. Motorcycle racer Mike Hailwood, known as 'Mike the Bike' and fourteen times winner of the Isle of Man TT, is seriously injured in a car crash at Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire; he dies of his injuries two days later. 22 March – It is reported that a minority of Conservative MPs are planning to challenge the leadership of Margaret Thatcher in an attempt to reverse the party's declining popularity and fight off the challenge from Labour and the SDP. 23 March – The Government imposes a ban on animal transportation on the Isle of Wight and southern Hampshire after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in cattle. 24 March – Barbados police rescue Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs after his kidnapping in Brazil. 26 March – Social Democratic Party formed by the so-called "Gang of Four": Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen, who have all defected from the Labour Party. 28 March – Enoch Powell, Ulster Unionist MP (formerly a Conservative until 1974) warns of "racial civil war" in Britain. 29 March – The first London Marathon is held. 30 March – Academy Award-winning film Chariots of Fire released.
April 2 April – The effects of the recession continue to claim jobs as Midland Red, the iconic Birmingham-based bus operator, closes down its headquarters in the city with the loss of some 170 jobs. 4 April Bucks Fizz representing the United Kingdom win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up. Susan Brown, a 23-year-old Biology student at Oxford University, becomes the first female cox in a winning Boat Race crew. Bob Champion, a 32-year-old cancer survivor, is the popular winner of the Grand National with his horse Aldaniti. 5 April – The 1981 UK Census is conducted. 10 April – Bobby Sands, an IRA member on hunger strike in the Maze prison, Northern Ireland, is elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by election. 11 April – More than 300 people (most of them police officers) are injured and extensive damage is caused to property in the Brixton riot. 13 April Home Secretary William Whitelaw announces a public inquiry, to be conducted by Lord Scarman, into the disturbances in Brixton. Enoch Powell warns that Britain "has seen nothing yet" with regards to racial unrest. Further rioting breaks out in Brixton. 20 April 23-year-old Steve Davis wins the World Snooker Championship for the first time. More than 100 people are arrested and 15 police officers are injured in clashes with black youths in the Finsbury Park, Forest Green and Ealing areas of London. 21 April – The county administrative headquarters of Northumberland move from Newcastle upon Tyne to Morpeth. 23 April – Unemployment passes the 2,500,000 mark for the first time in nearly 50 years. 29 April – Peter Sutcliffe admits to the manslaughter of 13 women on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but the judge rules that a jury should rule on Sutcliffe's state of mind before deciding whether to accept his plea or find him guilty of murder.
May May – Peugeot closes the Talbot car plant at Linwood, Scotland which was opened by the Rootes Group 18 years ago as Scotland's only car factory. The closure of the factory also results in the end of the last remaining Rootes-developed product, the Avenger, after 11 years, as well as the four-year-old Sunbeam supermini. There are no plans to replace the Avenger, but a French-built small car based on the Peugeot 104 will replace the Sunbeam in the next few months. 5 May Bobby Sands, a 27-year-old republican, dies in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison after a 66-day hunger strike. The trial of Peter Sutcliffe begins at the Old Bailey; he stands charged with 13 murders and seven attempted murders dating back to 1975. 7 May – Ken Livingstone becomes leader of the GLC after Labour wins the GLC elections. 9 May – The 100th FA Cup final ends with a 1–1 draw between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium. 11 May – The first performance of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats takes place at the New London Theatre. 12 May – Francis Hughes (aged 25) becomes the second IRA hunger striker to die in Northern Ireland. 13 May – An inquest returns an open verdict on the thirteen people who died as a result of their injuries in the New Cross fire. 14 May – Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for the sixth time in their history with a 3–2 win over Manchester City in the final replay at Wembley. 15 May The inquiry into the Brixton riots opens.