January
3rd	Joy Adamson, the Austrian-born conservationist and author, most remembered for her book and film, "Born Free" is murdered in Kenya (b. 1910)
4th	U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission
6th	Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC
6th	The president of Sicily, Piersanti Mattarella, is assassinated by the Mafia
11th	Nigel Short, 14, becomes the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master
17th	American actress, Zooey Deschanel is born
20th	British Formula 1 racing driver, Jenson Button is born
21st	The London Gold Fixing hits its highest price ever (adjusted for inflation), at US$850 a troy ounce
21st	The MS Athina B is beached at Brighton, becoming a temporary tourist attraction
25th	US singer and musician, Alicia Keys is born
25th	Spanish footballer, Xavi is born
29th	Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian dies (b. 1893)

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February
4th	Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran
12th	US Actress, Christina Ricci is born
13th	The XIII Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York
15th	In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea
17th	Actor, Jason Ritter is born
23rd	Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages
25th	A coup in Suriname ousts the government of Henck Arron. Leaders Desi Bouterse and Roy Horb replace it with a National Military Council
27th	Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former U.S. president Bill Clinton and U.S. senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is born

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March
1st	The Voyager 1 probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn
1st	Legendary English footballer, Dixie Dean dies (b. 1907)
3rd	Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada
4th	Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe
8th	The Tbilisi Rock festival kicks off, becoming the first event of its kind in the Soviet Union
14th	In Poland, a plane crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others
18th	Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation
20th	The Mi Amigo, the ship that housed pirate radio station Radio Caroline, sinks. Radio Caroline would return aboard a new ship in 1983
21st	U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
21st	Brazilian footballing trick specialist, Ronaldinho is born
21st	Mafioso Angelo Bruno is assassinated in Philadelphia
24th	The Australia Olympic Committee announces it will send an Olympic delegation to Moscow, despite objections by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
27th	The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212
28th	Talpiot Tomb is found in Jerusalem
29th	Italian-born conductor and arranger, Mantovani dies (b. 1905)
31st	American athlete, Jesse Owens dies (b. 1913)

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April
1st	The Mariel boatlift from Cuba begins
7th	The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979
10th	Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain, closed since 1969
12th	Samuel Kanyon Doe takes over Liberia in a coup d'etat, ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country
14th	Iron Maiden's debut self titled album Iron Maiden is released
15th	French philosopher, writer and Nobel Prize laureate, Jean-Paul Sartre dies (b. 1905)
18th	Zimbabwe gains independence from the United Kingdom. Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister
19th	Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song, What's Another Year
25th	Crash of a Dan-Air Boeing 727 in Tenerife killing all 146 occupants and marking the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life
29th	Film director, Alfred Hitchcock dies (b. 1899)
30th	Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, UK. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; 1 terrorist survives
30th	Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates, and her daughter Beatrix ascends to the throne

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May
4th	Yugoslav President Tito dies. The funeral ceremony later becomes the world's biggest diplomatic meeting and media event ever, with more than 140 state delegations in Belgrade from all over the world (only the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005 will have more news coverage and a higher number of delegations)
6th	Former Big Brother contestant and TV Presenter, Kate Lawler is born
7th	Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate in the United States)
9th	In Florida, a Liberian freighter named the Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, sending 35 people (most of whom were in a bus) to a watery death as a 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses
10th	West Ham won The FA cup
11th	Mobster Henry Hill (made famous in the Martin Scorsese film, "Goodfellas") is arrested on charges of drug possession
17th	A Miami, Florida court acquits 4 White police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance executive, provoking 3 days of race riots
18th	Ian Curtis, lead singer with Joy Division, commits suicide (b. 1956)
18th	Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage
21st	Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is released
22nd	Computer game, Pac-Man is released, the best-selling Arcade game of all time
24th	The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran
26th	John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away
30th	Liverpool and England footballer, Steven Gerrard is born

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June
1st	The Cable News Network (CNN) is officially launched
1st	In Los Angeles, comedian Richard Pryor is badly burned trying to freebase cocaine
3rd	A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing 5 people and injuring over 250
10th	The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela, which says in part: 'UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF UNITED MASS ACTION AND THE HAMMER OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE WE SHALL CRUSH APARTHEID!'
10th	A Unabomber bomb injures United Airlines president Percy Wood in Lake Forest, Illinois
19th	Iraqi security forces shoot dead 3 gunmen who attacked the British Embassy in Baghdad. The unknown attackers are killed in the embassy gardens by Iraqi security men, sent at the urgent request of the British ambassador, Alex Stirling
22nd	West Germany beats Belgium 2-1 to win the Euro 80 football championships
23rd	Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies in an air crash
25th	A Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails. Assad retaliates by sending the army against them
26th	A McDonnell Douglas DC-9 belonging to the Italian Airline Itavia crashes into the sea near Palermo after an explosion occurs in the air; 81 people die. A bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident but no culprits are ever found
27th	U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs Proclamation 4771 requiring 19 and 20 year old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
29th	Vigdis Finnbogadottir is elected president of Iceland

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July
9th	Pope John Paul II visits Brazil and 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd meeting him
10th	Alexandra Palace in is London destroyed by fire
16th	Former California Governor and actor Ronald Reagan is nominated for U.S. President, at the Republican National Convention in Detroit, Michigan. Influenced by the Religious Right, the convention also drops its long standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment, dismaying moderate Republicans
19th	The Summer Olympics started in Moscow, USSR
19th	Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by 2 gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey
25th	Release of rock classic, "Back in Black", by the Australian band AC/DC
27th	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, deposed shah of Iran, dies in Cairo
30th	Vanuatu gains independence

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August
2nd	A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200
7th	Lech Wałęsa leads the first of many strikes at the Gdańsk shipyard
10th	Hurricane Allen Pounds Southeastern Texas as A category 3 hurricane
17th	In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo
19th	In one of aviation's worst disasters, 301 people are killed when Saudia Flight 163 catches fire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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September
2nd	Ford launches the Escort MK3, which ditches the traditional rear-wheel drive saloon in favour of a more practical and modern front-wheel drive hatchback
5th	The St. Gothard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo
12th	Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence leading to the execution of many young activists
17th	After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established
17th	Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay
19th	The Robert Redford-directed film Ordinary People, based on the novel by Judith Guest, premieres. Redford's directorial debut later wins him his first Oscar, three other Academy Awards, and five Golden Globe awards
22nd	The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets," initiating the Iran–Iraq War
22nd	Youth riots in the capital of the Soviet Republic of Estonia are quickly forced down
26th	The Mariel Boatlift officially ends
30th	Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds

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October
1st	Associated Newspapers announced that The Evening News would close and merge with the Evening Standard
3rd	The film The Elephant Man , starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt, and directed by David Lynch, opens in New York City. It is nominated for many Academy Awards, but does not win any
5th	British Leyland launches its new Metro, a three-door entry-level hatchback which is designed as the eventual replacement for the Mini. It gives BL a long-awaited modern competitor for the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Chevette
10th	Margaret Thatcher tells the Conservative Party conference "U-turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning"
10th	El Asnam in Algeria is destroyed by an earthquake which claimed more than 2,600 lives. After the quake, El Asnam is rebuilt and changes its name to the city of Chlef
14th	The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads
15th	James Callaghan announces his resignation as Leader of the British Labour Party
15th	James Hoskins forces his way into WCPO's television studio in Cincinnati, holding nine employees hostage for several hours before releasing them and taking his own life
18th	The Fraser Government is re-elected for a third consecutive term in Australia with a reduced majority
22nd	The Thomson Corporation said that The Times and all associated supplements would close in March 1981 if no buyer could be found
27th	Six Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners in Maze prison refuse food and demand status as political prisoners; the hunger strike lasts until December
31st	The Polish government recognizes Solidarity
31st	Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne

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November
4th	Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in a landslide victory, exactly 1 year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis
10th	The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth
20th	The Gang of Four trial begins in China
21st	A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada kills 85 people
21st	Millions of viewers tune into the U.S. TV soap opera Dallas to learn who shot lead character J.R. Ewing. The "Who shot J.R.?" event is a national obsession
23rd	A magnitude 7 earthquake in southern Italy kills approximately 3,000 people and leaves 300,000 homeless

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December
4th	Francisco Sá Carneiro, Portuguese Prime Minister dies in a plane crash in Camarate in the outskirts of Lisbon
7th	Darby Crash, front man of the influential LA punk band, The Germs, dies from a heroin overdose as part of a suicide pact
8th	Former Beatle John Lennon dies in hospital after being shot outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan who had received his signature earlier in the day
15th	The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language) is created
26th	Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento," kills himself by overdose on San Quentin prison death row