The year was 1981 and it was another 12 months of unrest as Margaret Thatcher continued her residency in Downing Street.
January started with the death of Princess Alice – last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria – at Kensington Palace aged 97 but a more memorable royal event saw millions watch the wedding of Charles and Diana at St Paul's Cathedral. More than 30 million viewers watched the wedding on television – the second highest television audience of all time in Britain.
It was also the year when Labour MPs Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen – known as the Gang of Four – announce that they were forming the SDP or Social Democratic Party and Margaret Thatcher spent four days visiting U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington DC.
Peter Davison replaced Tom Baker as Doctor Who and Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up.