Allan Dwan ( April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981 ) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.

* 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aviation industrialist ( d. 1981 )

* 1892 – Lowell Thomas, American writer ( d. 1981 )

* 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Zambian-Welsh footballer

* 1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player and agent

* 1981 – Kari Jobe, American singer and songwriter ( Gateway Worship )

* 1981 – Alex Suarez, American bassist ( Cobra Starship and This Is Ivy League )

* 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle ( Columbia ) takes place-the STS-1 mission.

* 1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentine footballer

* 1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer

* 1981 – Brian Vandborg, Danish cyclist

* 1981 – Emma Pierson, English actress

* 1981 – Kunal Nayyar, Indian-English actor

* 1895 – Andreas Alföldi, Hungarian historian and archaeologist ( d. 1981 )

* 1933 – Joke Smit, Dutch activist and politician ( d. 1981 )

* 1981 – Maxwell Cabelino Andrade, Spanish footballer

* 1981 – Alessandro Gamberini, Italian footballer

* 1981 – Demetria McKinney, American actress

* 1981 – Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italian race car driver

* 1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper and songwriter ( Gym Class Heroes )

* 1981 – Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater

* 1981 – Jarvis Hayes, American basketball player

* 1981 – Li Jiawei, Singaporean table tennis player

* 1981 – Claire Dames, American porn actress

* 1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh's son is found.

* 1981 – John McFall, English sprinter

In 1981, nominee John Banville wrote a letter to The Guardian requesting that the prize be given to him so that he could use the money to buy every copy of the longlisted books in Ireland and donate them to libraries, " thus ensuring that the books not only are bought but also read — surely a unique occurrence.

William John Clifton " Bill " Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981 ) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians.

* John Woo directed a parody film of Chaplin's " The Kid " called Hua ji shi dai ( 1981 ), also known as " Laughing Times.

* On November 20, 1981, the CBC Radio series Nightfall aired an adaptation of Carmilla written by Graham Pomeroy and John Douglas.

In the 1970s, McLean usually toured solo but from 1981 to 1996 was accompanied by John Platania on guitar.

* Mosedale, John ( 1981 ).

Escape from New York is a 1981 American science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter.

John Muir and His Legacy: The American Conservation Movement ( Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1981 ).

* 1981 – John Walker Lindh, American Taliban fighter

Between 1979 and 1985, under John Negroponte's appointment as U. S. diplomat from 1981 to 1985, U. S. military and economic aid to Honduras jumped from $ 31 million to $ 282 million.

* Sir John Ford ( born 1922 ), British Foreign Office official who served in Canada from 1978 to 1981 ( List of High Commissioners from the United Kingdom to Canada )

* 2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981.

* 1981 – 6 year old Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh is kidnapped in Hollywood, Florida and is found murdered two weeks later.

* John Walker Lindh ( born 1981 ), aka John Walker, imprisoned American captured as an enemy combatant in 2001, in Afghanistan

John Phillip Walker Lindh ( born February 9, 1981 ) is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States ' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

This piece is John Adams's second major composition on a text, after Harmonium ( 1981 ) for chorus and orchestra.

The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and, according to critics, successfully handled in Robert Bresson's Lancelot du Lac ( 1974 ), Eric Rohmer's Perceval le Gallois ( 1978 ) and perhaps John Boorman's fantasy film Excalibur ( 1981 ); it is also the main source of the material utilised in the Arthurian spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail ( 1975 ).

* Levtzion, Nehemia, and John Hopkins: Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, Cambridge 1981.

On August 1, 1981, at 12: 01 a. m., MTV launched with the words " Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll ," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia, which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11.

* 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player

* 1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome.