- April 7
- Belgium Eysken's government forms. [1]
- April 9
- US submarine George Washington rams Japanese freighter Nisso Maru. [1]
- April 10
- France performs nuclear test. [1]
- Imprisoned Irish Republican Army hunger striker Bobby Sands elected to British Parliament (Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election). [1] [119]
- April 11
- Rioters in South London (Brixton) throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops. [1] [119]
- April 12
- Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the maiden Space Transit System-1 mission. [1] [119]
- April 13
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Beth Henley for "Crimes of the Heart". [1]
- Washington Post's Janet Cooke wins Pulitzer Prize for "Jimmy's World" (later admits story was a hoax and returns prize). [1]
- April 14
- First Space Shuttle - Columbia 1 - returns to Earth. [1]
- April 15
- Janet Cooke says her Pulitzer award-winning 8-year-old heroin addict story is a lie; Washington Post relinquishes Pulitzer Prize on fabricated story. [1]
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- The Australian Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock resigns from the cabinet, accusing Prime Minister Fraser of gross disloyalty. [119]
- April 18
- The rock band Yes splits up (regrouping in 1983). [119]
- April 21
- US furnishes US$1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. [1]
- April 22
- Almost one million West German metal workers go on strike. [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- 10,000 copper workers in Chile strike. [1]
- April 24
- US ends grain embargo against USSR. [1]
- April 26
- Largest US bank robbery (Tucson, Arizona), more than US$33 million stolen. [1]
- April 27
- Xerox introduces the Xerox 8010 Star Information System. It features graphics display, word processor, mouse, laser printer, Ethernet, and software for combining text and graphics Priced at about $16,000, the computer is not a commercial success. During its lifetime, 100,000 units are produced. [4]
- April 29
- Peter Sutcliffe admits he is the Yorkshire Ripper (murdered 13 women). [1]
- May 1
- Start of the new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds. [119]
- May 6
- US expels Libyan diplomats. [1]
- A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the US Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries. [119]
- May 7
- The Greater London Council (England) election results in a small Labour majority. [119]
- May 10
- François Mitterrand defeats Valery Giscard d'Estang in election for President of France. [1] [119]
- In Italy a popular referendum rejects the abrogation of the law allowing abortion. [119]
- May 11
- Andrew Lloyd Webber/TS Eliot's musical Cats premieres in London. [1]
- May 13
- Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded while passing through Saint Peter's Square in Rome, in an open car. Four shots are fired by Mehmet Ali Agca, two striking the Pope, the other two wounding American Ann Odre and Jamaican Rose Hill. [1] [119] [129]
- May 15
- Soyuz 40 carries two cosmonauts (one Rumanian) to Salyut 6. [1]
- Donna Payant is murdered by serial killer Lemuel Smith - the first time a female prison officer has been killed on-duty in the United States. [119]
- May 21
- In France, Socialist François Mitterrand becomes President. [1] [119]
- May 22
- Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper. He is sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and seven of attempted murder. [119]
- May 23
- Barcelona fascists take 200 people hostage. [1]
- May 24
- Hostage situation ends at Central Bank in Barcelona, Spain. [1]
- Jaime Roldós Aguilera, President of Ecuador, dies in air plane crash. [1] [240.114]
- May 25
- In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. [119]
- May 26
- Marine jet crashes on flight deck of USS Nimitz, killing 14. [1]
- The Italian government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due. [119]
- May 27
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- May 28
- Stefan Wyszynski, Polish Cardinal, dies. [1]
- May 30
- Ziaur Rahmen, President of Bangladesh, is assassinated by a group of rebel officers. [1] [119]
- June 3
- Pope John Paul II released from hospital after attempt on life. [1]
- June 5
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (the first recognized cases of AIDS). [1] [119]
- June 6
- Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the River Kosi in Bihar, India; about 800 die. [119]
- June 7
- The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. [1] [119]
- June 10
- Irish Republican Army's Joseph Doherty escapes from Crumlin Road Jail. [1]
- June 11
- In Southern Iran, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. Three thousand people killed, many injured, and extensive damage in Kerman Province. [53]
- June 12
- Paramount releases the film Raiders of the Lost Ark to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $390 million (1st for 1981).) [954]
- June 13
- At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. [1] [119]
- In Salem, Oregon, USA a building is hit by a falling meteorite. [521]
- June 19
- European Space Agency's Ariane carries two satellites into orbit. [1]
- India's APPLE satellite, first to be stabilized on three axes, launched. [1]
- June 21
- 12-bottle case of 1979 Napamedoc Cabernet wine sells at auction for US$24,000. [1]
- June 22
- Two Habash terrorists attack a travel agency in Greece killing two. [1]
- Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed. [119]
- June 23
- Amanda Maccaro becomes first American to win Russian Ballet Competition. [1]
- June 24
- The Humber Bridge, the world's longest single-span suspension bridge (for the next 17 years), opens, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. [5]
- June 26
- Couples For Christ, a Christian charismatic organization, is established in the Philippines. [119]
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