20/09/81: British Professional Darts Championship begins

On Sunday 20 September 1981, BBCTv began eight day coverage of the British Professional Championship, a brand new tournament in which 32 of the top darts players in Britain were to compete.

The first round began that  afternoon with four matches, and featured were the No 1 Seed and World Champion, Eric Bristow against Tony Ridler, and the No 8 Seed Cliff Lazarenko, who played against Lionel Smith. The programme was introduced by Peter Purves from the Club Fiesta, Stockton.

Daily coverage carried on throughout the week with highlisghts being shown in an evening programme at around 10.15 pm. The final on Sunday 27 September, won by Jocky Wilson, was broadcast live from 1.55 pm.

source: BBC genome, dartsdatabase.co.uk

20/07/81: Ian Botham's innings rescues the Ashes for England

Monday 20 July 1981 was Day 4 of the the third test Match between Australia and England. It was the day of England's 2nd innings. The six Test matches of the summer of 1981 between England and Australia were played between 18 June - 1 September 1981.
Despite having been 1–0 down after two Tests, England won the next three Tests to finish 3–1 victors (with two draws), thus retaining the Ashes. The series is popularly known as Botham's Ashes, owing to the remarkable performances of Ian Botham with both bat and ball.

full story: theguardian.com

England won the test the following day by 18 runs.

Geoff Boycott hands Ian Botham a stump and a tired Bob Willis waits for the presentation ceremony, England v Australia, 3rd Test, Headingley, 5th day, July 21, 1981 

04/07/81: Wimbledon Men's Singles final: McEnroe vs. Borg

Saturday, 4 July 1981.

McEnroe beat Borg to win his first Wimbledon title, ending Borg's five year run.

Borg also went on to lose to McEnroe at the 1981 US Open.

Borg and McEnroe pictured prior to the Wimbledon final.

14/5/81: Tottenham Hotspur win FA Cup after replay

On Thursday 14 May 1981 Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester City 3-2 to win the FA Cup in the replay of the Final at Wembley Stadium.

On the same night Top of the Pops was brought forward and made shorter, and Tonmorrow's World cancelled, in order to accommodate the match into BBC schedules.

09/05/81: FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium

On Saturday 9 May 1981 the final of the 1981/81 season FA Cup was played between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

pic: citytilidie.com

The match ended in a 1 - 1 draw after extra time was played. Manchester City scored first with a spectacular header by Tommy Hutchinson (30') although Spurs drew in the 79th minute with an own goal from Hutchinson after a free kick by Hoddle.

 

A replay was scheduled for Thursday 14 May, again at Wembley Stadium.

see also: City Til I Die

07/05/81: Tottenham Hotspur FC on Top of the Pops

On Thursday 7 May 1981 the Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup final squad appeared on Top of the Pops with the duo Chas n Dave to perform their single Ossie’s Dream (Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley). They were set to play the final on Saturday 9 May against Manchester City.

This particular show was actually broadcast live from the BBC Television Centre instead of going out as recording as usual. Other acts on the show included Kim Wilde, Shakin Stevens, The Nolans and The Undertones. Adam & the Ants had gone straight into no. 1 with their new single Stand & Deliver although the promo video rather than a studio performance was shown.

sources: The Sound of the Crowd, Popscene, 

2/05/81: Irish Cup Final

On Saturday 2 May 1981, the final of the Northern Ireland football cup tournament was played between Ballymena United and Glenavon. The competition had begun in January with a total of sixteen clubs taking part.

Ballymena United won the game 1-0, making this their third Irish Cup victory. The club would also go on to win the trophy in the 1983/84 and 1988/89 seasons.

15/04/81: FA Cup semi-final replay - Spurs v. Wolves

On Wednesday 15 April the replay of the second semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers took place at Highbury Stadium in London.

Tottenham ended up beating Wolves by a clear 3-0, with two goals from Garth Crooks and one from  the Argentinian Ricardo Villa. The first match had ended in a 2-2 on the previous Saturday, thanks to a 90th minute penalty by Wolves' Willie Carr.

Tottenham were now scheduled to play against Manchester City, who had beaten Ipswich Town, on Saturday 9 May at Wembley Stadium.

7/04/81: Nantes defeated at home after 92 matches

On Tuesday 7 April 1981 in a match in the France's Ligue 1 Auxerre defeated Nantes 0-1, ending a five-year home unbeaten streak for Nantes.

pic.: delcampe.net

The streak began in June 1976 under manager José Arribas, in the last month of his 16-year tenure in charge of the club. On 4 June, Nantes managed a 1-1 draw with Nice, then won their only remaining home match of the season, a 1-0 victory over Nîmes on the season's last day.

Nantes' ninety-two match streak is one of the best home league unbeaten runs, within striking distance of PSV Eindhoven (93) and Red Star Belgrade (96), but still well behind the top mark of 121 set by Real Madrid from 1957 to 1965.

pic.: This Day in Football History

- this post adapted from the original by Brian Seal on the This Day in Football History blog.

1/4/81: English Football League Cup Final replay

On Wednesday 1 April 1981 the replay of the English Football League Cup Final between Liverpool and West Ham United was played at Villa Park Birmingham at 7.30 p.m.

The final had initially been played on at Wembley on 14 March, ending in a 1-1 draw. In the replay however Liverpool beat their opponents 2-1. It was the first time Liverpool had won the competition.

Liverpool goalscorer's Alan Hansen (left) and Kenny Dalglish celebrate with the trophy in the dressing room after the 1981 League Cup Final replay 

29/3/81: first London marathon

On Sunday 29 March 1981, the very first London Marathon took place. It had been organised and directed by Christopher Brasher, a former sports editor for The Observer newspaper.

After taking part in the 1979 New York Marathon, Brasher convinced himself that London could do what New York had done. Within a year, he had achieved the far more difficult task of convincing the police and the relevant London boroughs. He had hoped for 4,000 runners on the big day in March 1981; in the event, more than 7,000 started from Greenwich Park - and most made it to the finish outside Buckingham Palace.

A 25lb cannon was fired to start the race in Greenwich Park at 9am. Some two hours, 11 minutes and 48 seconds later the marathon finished in a tie with American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen crossed the finish line at Constitution Hill.

source: guardian archives, virginmoneylondonmarathon.com
pics: bt.com

23/3/81: Mike Hailwood dies in a road accident

On Monday 23 March 1981, British motor-cycle racer Mike Hailwood died following a road traffic accident in Warwickshire, England.

Born Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood in 1940, he was also known as "Mike The Bike" because of his natural riding ability on bikes with a range of engine capacities. Later in his career he went on to compete in Formula One and other classes of car racing, becoming one of the few men to compete at Grand Prix level in both motorcycle and car racing.

Getty Images

The fatal accident had occurred two days earlier when Hailwood was driving with his two young children Micehlle and David. Michelle died instantly, and of the three only David survived. At his funeral Hailwood's pall bearers included James Hunt, John Surtees and Giacomo Agostini.

source: independent.co.uk

7/3/81: FA Cup Sixth Round

The sixth round of FA Cup games were played on Saturday 7 March 1981.

Out of four matches, there were three replays, which took place on 10–11 March. Tottenham Hotspur were the only team to get through to the semi finals without a replay.

Results:
Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 Exeter City

Middlesbrough 1–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
replay: Wolverhampton Wanderers    3–1 Middlesbrough

Everton   2–2 Manchester City
replay: Manchester City 3–1 Everton

Nottingham Forest 3–3 Ipswich Town
replay: Ipswich Town      1–0 Nottingham Forest

pic: Getty images

The picture shows Ipswich Town manager Bobby Robson (1933 -2009) during their match against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in Nottingham. Ipswich would eventually be beaten by runners-up Manchester City in the semi finals but still under Robson would go on to win the UEFA Cup in 1981, and finish as league runners-up in 1981 and 1982.

Robson became the England national team manager from July 1982, eventually taking England to the World Cup semi-final in 1990.

8/2/81: Karaiskakis Stadium disaster

On Sunday 8 February at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece, 21 supporters lost their lives in one of the sport’s worst disasters and the biggest football tragedy in Greece’s history.

Pic. gazzetta.gr - the number of dead was initially reported as 19

While rushing out of the stadium to celebrate Olympiacos’ win, some supporters at Gate 7 of the stadium lost their footing and fell. Visibility was poor due to the sheer number of people trying to exit through gate 7 which, according to police reports, was partially closed and fans were unaware that anything had happened. As a result, more fell and were trampled by the other fans which kept coming, also unaware of the incident.

In memory of this event, every year on February 8, there is a memorial service at the stadium in honor of the supporters that died in the incident. 

Source: Gate7 Olympiacos , wikipedia

31/1/81: Wolves v. West Bromwich Albion (Black Country Derby)

On Saturday 31 January 1981 Wolverhampton Wanderers, or Wolves, played at home against West Bromwich Albion. The match was one of the long line of 'Black Country' derbies which have been contested in the English League Football since 1886.

pic: Wolves Football Programmes

This was the return match of the 1980-81 season with Wolves winning 2-0. The two teams had previously met at The Hawthorns on 23 August 1980 when the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

The last match between the two teams took place on 12 February 2012 when West Brom thrashed Wolves 1-5 at Molineux. Wolves currently play in the English Football League Championship while West Brom are in the Premier League.

Source: soccerbase.com, wikipedia

24/1/81 :Everton 2 Liverpool 1 - FA Cup 4th Round

17/1/81: Parkinson (BBCTV) with Freddie Starr and Muhammad Ali

British comedian Freddie Star (b. 1943) and boxer Muhammad Ali (b. 1942) were guests on Michael Parkinson's Saturday night chat show, which ran on BBC1 from 1971 to 2004.

source: BBC genome, youtube

13/01/1981: BBC2 Programmes trailer (TV)

(that's Tuesday 13 January, not 12 as shown in the youtube upload title, but thanks anyway to Put The Telly On)

..and if you're not into any of that, BBC 1 was showing American comedy Taxi, a nostalgic re-run of Softly Softly, and there's more comedy with a new episode of (now forgotten) boxing sitcom Seconds Out, starring Robert Lindsay (below).

Sources: Put the telly On, BBC genome, British Comedy Guide