About the day » Sunday May 31, 1981Calender converter

• A. C. Laheij, Heerlen (L
• Jordan Lee van de Vorst, Saskatoon (CA) († 2016)

• Anna Petronella Maria Louisa van Vugt (69)
• Cornelis Martinus Wessel (79), Arnhem, Gelderland, Nederland
• Bartele Hotsma (87), NoordBergum
• Driesje Leusink (82)
• Antje Pieters Wagenaar (87), Leeuwarden, Gem. Leeuwarden, Friesland, Nederland
• Brigitta Maria Gildemeijer (70), Wolvega, Weststellingwerf, Friesland, Nederland
• Cornelia Krombeen (75), Middelburg
• Cornelis Engelmundus Stam (42), Beverwijk
• Arthur Zelton May (81), Lowndes County, Georgia, Verenigde Staten
• Clarence Victor Hugo Bray II (71), Avon Park, Highlands, Florida, Verenigde Staten

• 1977 » Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
• 1977 » Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-Greek volleyball player
• 1979 » Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
• 1981 » Daniele Bonera, Italian footballer
• 1981 » Jake Peavy, American baseball player
• 1981 » Marlies Schild, Austrian skier
• 1981 » Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
• 1984 » Andrew Bailey, American baseball player
• 1984 » Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer
• 1984 » Nate Robinson, American basketball player

• 1976 » Jacques Monod, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• 1977 » William Castle, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
• 1978 » József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
• 1981 » Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist and journalist (b. 1914)
• 1982 » Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (b. 1930)
• 1983 » Jack Dempsey, American boxer and lieutenant (b. 1895)
• 1985 » Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (b. 1921)
• 1986 » James Rainwater, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• 1986 » Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (b. 1918)
• 1987 » John Abraham, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1937)

• Koningin Beatrix (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from April 30, 1980 till April 30, 2013 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• 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.
• The Netherlands had about 14.2 million citizens.
• March 11 » Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
• April 26 » Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world's first human open fetal surgery.
• August 5 » President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• September 21 » Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
• September 25 » Belize joins the United Nations.
• December 11 » El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.

The temperature on May 31, 1981 was between 14.2 °C and 26.6 °C and averaged 19.3 °C. There was 6.4 mm of rain during 3.2 hours. There was 8.4 hours of sunshine (51%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the south.