Ireland

Prisoners in Armagh and Long Kesh end their 53 day hunger strike on promises of political status. The promises are not kept

A hunger strike in 1980 was also undertaken by seven men in the H-Blocks and three women in Armagh Gaol, but it ended on 18 December after 53 days, without any gains for the prisoners.

Beginning of the Hunger Strike by seven Republican prisoners in the H Blocks at Long Kesh

The hunger strike begins on October 27, 1980, when seven Republican prisoners in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh (Maze Prison) refuse food in protest of the British government’s withdrawal of Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners. Their demands include the right to wear their own clothes, avoid prison labor, and associate freely. They are later joined by three female prisoners in Armagh Prison, marking a unified protest across gender lines. This first hunger strike, though ended without deaths, set the stage for the more widely known 1981 hunger strike.

Poet and Nationalist C M Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) died.

Peru defeated Scotland, 3-1 in the football World Cup in Argentina.

Damage estimated to cost £15,000 caused by fans who dug up the pitch at Wembley after Scotland defeated England, 2-1.

Bobby Sands dies at Long Kesh prison on the 66th day of his hunger strike

Robert Gerard Sands, commonly known as Bobby Sands (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was an Irish republican and a former MP who died on hunger strike in the prison officially called HM Prison Maze but formerly known as Long Kesh (a name still used by Irish Republicans).

Roman Emperor Hadrian, born

Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, the Aeli Hadriani, came from the town of Hadria in eastern Italy. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty.

Queen Elizabeth officially opened an underwater pipeline to bring the first North Sea oil ashore.

Eamon DeValera, Irish statesman, died

Eamon de Valera (born Edward George de Valera, sometimes Gaelicised Eamonn de Bhaileara; October 14, 1882 ? August 29, 1975), was an Irish politician, best known as a leader of Irelands struggle for independence from Britain in the early 20th Century, and the Republican anti-Treaty opposition in the ensuing Irish Civil War.

Rate of price inflation reached, 25% in the UK.