The year was 1981 and it was another 12 months of unrest as Margaret Thatcher continued her residency in Downing Street.
January started with the death of Princess Alice – last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria – at Kensington Palace aged 97 but a more memorable royal event saw millions watch the wedding of Charles and Diana at St Paul's Cathedral. More than 30 million viewers watched the wedding on television – the second highest television audience of all time in Britain.
It was also the year when Labour MPs Shirley Williams, Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers and David Owen – known as the Gang of Four – announce that they were forming the SDP or Social Democratic Party and Margaret Thatcher spent four days visiting U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington DC.
Peter Davison replaced Tom Baker as Doctor Who and Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up.
1. On stage
Clare Venables, the new artistic director at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, started rehearsals on her first production and there was champagne for her, the cast, set designer, and author. Pictured left to right in our picture from December 29, 1981, are actors Michael Irving and Deborah Findlay, set designer Roger Glossop, author Rony Robinson, and Clare Venables serving champagne,
Photo: Ellen Beardmore
2. Hospital demolition
The scene at The Royal Hospital, West Street, Sheffield, as demolition work continued on May 7, 1981
Photo: Julia Armstrong
3. Nuclear protest
An anti-nuclear demonstration makes its way through the streets of Sheffield on March 14, 1981
Photo: Sheffield Newspapers
4. On track
The Lord Mayor of Sheffield Coun Enid Hattersley with young prizewinners of the Sheffield Model Railway Exhibition on May 28, 1981
Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Ltd