January 28 » Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8mph (13km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2mph (3.2km/h).
February 21 » An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing.
March 1 » Battle of Adwa: An Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War.
June 4 » Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
August 17 » Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
Day of death February 3, 1981
The temperature on February 3, 1981 was between 4.8 °C and 9.3 °C and averaged 6.9 °C. There was 15.9 mm of rain during 8.1 hours. There was 2.7 hours of sunshine (29%). The heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-southwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, December 19, 1977 to Friday, September 11, 1981 the cabinet Van Agt I, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA/KVP) as prime minister.
In The Netherlands , there was from Friday, September 11, 1981 to Saturday, May 29, 1982 the cabinet Van Agt II, with Mr. A.A.M. van Agt (CDA) as prime minister.
May 26 » An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USSNimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.
June 5 » The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
July 7 » US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.
August 30 » President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran.
September 21 » Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
October 27 » Cold War: The Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I6812.php : accessed January 21, 2026), "James Albert Joseph (Bertie) Dreyer b4c2d5e3f1g5 (1896-1981)".
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