January 1981 - January 25, 1981 (Sunday)

January 25, 1981 (Sunday)

• Limehouse Declaration: Four former Labour cabinet ministers (Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams, William Rodgers and David Owen) formed the Social Democratic Party, bringing with them 29 Labour MPs.
• Super Bowl XV: The Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27–10. Jim Plunkett, the game's MVP, had been a "has-been" until becoming the starting quarterback after an early season injury to Dan Pastorini. Rod Martin shut down the Eagles' drives with three interceptions.
• Iran hostage crisis: The fifty-two Americans, who had been held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran, returned to United States soil at 2:54 pm, as the plane carrying them landed at Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York. The group, who had been freed five days earlier, had flown from West Germany and were greeted by a crowd of 300,000 well-wishers. "
• Gang of Four trial: Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, was sentenced to death, with a two year suspension during which she could repent. "Madame Mao" wasn't executed, and stayed in custody until her suicide in 1991. Zhang Chunqiao were sentenced to death; Wang Hongwen was sentenced to life, and Yao Wenyuan to 25 years.
• Born: Alicia Keys, American pop singer, as Alicia Cook in New York; and Tose Proeski, Macedonian pop singer, in Prilep, Yugoslavia (killed in car crash, 2007)
• Died: Adele Astaire, 84, American dancer and actress, Joseph Francel, 85, New York executioner of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.