4/05/81: May Day Bank holiday in UK

Monday 4 May 1981 was the May Day Bank holiday in the UK.

Warwick Market: Market traders and shoppers at a packed Warwick Bank Holiday Market

The holiday was introduced in 1978 by the then employment secretary Michael Foot, just before he became leader of the Labour Party. At the time many opposed the move saying a May Day holiday was essentially a communist idea because most countries behind the Iron Curtain used May 1 to celebrate International Workers' Day.

adapted from telegraph.co.uk