At A Glance

5 May 1981 at a glance

Day of the week
5 May 1981 was a Tuesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” by Sheena Easton.
Top Film of 1981
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1981 was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bestselling Novel of 1981
“Noble House” by James Clavell was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1981.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1981–82 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 5 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 5 May 1981 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 5 May 1981 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 5 May

  • 1973 Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59.4, an as-yet-unbeaten record.
  • 1980 Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
  • 1985 Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
  • 1987 Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States.
  • 1994 The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Famous people born on May 5

  • Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player (born 1998)
  • Richard E. Grant, Swazi-English actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1957)
  • Carlos Alcaraz, Spanish tennis player (born 2003)
  • Henry Cavill, English actor (born 1983)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 1981 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1981 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 31 – The 53rd Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, wins four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
  • April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
  • June 12 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg is released as the first film of the Indiana Jones film series.
More events of 1981 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1981

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$1.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.54

Average House

$68,900

Weekly Wage

$285

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Famous Faces Born in the 1980s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Hayden Panettiere21 August 1989Actress & singerView their day →Alan Ritchson28 November 1982ActorView their day →Anne Hathaway12 November 1982ActressView their day →Dakota Johnson4 October 1989Actress & modelView their day →Macklemore19 June 1983RapperView their day →Andrew Garfield20 August 1983ActorView their day →Julia Stiles28 March 1981ActressView their day →Taylor Swift13 December 1989Singer-songwriterView their day →

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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