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

29/1/81: President Reagan's first press conference

28/1/81: actor Elijah Wood born

On Wednesday 28 January 1981 Elijah Jordan Wood was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA.

A child movie actor since 1989, Wood became best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003).

Source IMDb

27/1/81: released US hostages arrive in Washington DC

Tuesday January 27 1981: the caravan of buses carrying the former hostages and their relatives makes its way through the crowd on hand to greet them on Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue,

The 52 Americans were held hostage in Iran for 444 days after their capture at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Source and picture: usnews.com

26/1/81: New Order record first John Peel session

On Monday 21 January 1981 Manchester band New Order recorded their first live session for the John Peel Show at the BBC studios in London.

New Order perform live in 1981. pic: thelocal.de

This was their first recorded work under the name of New Order. The band was formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, the remaining members of post-punk group Joy Division, following the suicide of vocalist Ian Curtis. Morris' then girlfriend Gillian Gilbert also joined shortly afterwards. This session features four tracks - Truth, Senses, I.C.B., Dreams Never End - which would all appear on their debut album Movement released several months later. Neither the session nor the album however featured their debut single Ceremony, released in March.

New Order would go on to become one of the most successful independent acts of the 1980s, with a groundbreaking mix of indie rock, pop and electronic dance music as demonstrated on hits such as Blue Monday, Bizarre Love Triangle and True Faith. After various solo projects they have continued to record together although bassist Peter Hook has since left the band. Their latest album Music Complete was released in 2015.

The January 1981 session was eventually broadcast by John Peel on 16 February. It was not made publicly available as an official recorded release until 1987.

Source: Discogs, neworderonline.

25/1/81: Jiang Qing sentenced to death

On 25 January 1981, Jiang Qing (b. 1914), the fourth wife and widow of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, was sentenced to death for her “counter-revolutionary crimes” during the Cultural Revolution.

Originally an actress in Communist theater and film, she married Mao in 1939. In 1966, Mao made her the first deputy head of the Cultural Revolution and gave her far-reaching powers over China's intellectual and cultural life.

But after her husband’s death in 1976, Jiang (aka "Madame Mao") and three other radicals who had come to power in the revolution were singled out as the “Gang of Four.” She was arrested and in 1977 expelled from the Communist Party. Three years later, in 1980, the Gang of Four were put on trial and two of its members were sentenced to death.

pic: BBC / AFP

On January 25, 1983, exactly two years after she was condemned, the Chinese government commuted her sentence to life imprisonment. In 1991, she died in prison of an apparent suicide.


Text and info adapted from history.com

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