Events Date 1981 November | History by KabAstro

Nov 1 1st Class US Mail raised from 18 cents to 20 cents
Nov 1 Antigua & Barbuda gains independence from Britain (National Day)

Sports History

Nov 1 Darrell Waltrip wins his 4th straight NASCAR Cup race, the American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway; ties Richard Petty record 1967; 12th win of season; goes on to win Winston Cup crown

Nov 3 Milwaukee Brewers future Baseball Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers (6-3 record, 28 saves and 1.04 ERA) wins American League Cy Young Award, with 22 of 28 possible 1st-place votes
Nov 4 Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart" premieres in NYC
Nov 4 Columbia shuttle launch scrubbed with 31 secs remaining
Nov 4 Dr George Nichopoulas is acquitted of overprescribing addictive drugs for Elvis Presley
Nov 5 Former Dolphin, Mercury Morris, is sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession of cocaine

Holmes vs. Snipes

Nov 6 Larry Holmes TKOs Renaldo Snipes in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

Nov 7 France performs nuclear test
Nov 8 Christian Democrats looses Belgium parliamentary election
Nov 10 Donald Driver and Michael Valenti's musical comedy "Oh, Brother!" opens at ANTA Theater, NYC; runs for 3 performances
Nov 10 Ernest Thompson's "West Side Waltz" premieres in NYC
Nov 11 Donald Driver and Michael Valenti's musical comedy "Oh, Brother!" closes at ANTA Theater, NYC, after 3 performances

First Rookie Wins Cy Young

Nov 11 LA Dodgers starter Fernando Valenzuela becomes first MLB rookie to win a Cy Young Award; Milwaukee Brewers' Rollie Fingers takes AL Award

Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Fernando Valenzuela

Nov 12 1st balloon crossing of Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V)
Nov 12 2nd shuttle mission-1st time spacecraft launched twice (Columbia 2)
Nov 12 Bill C Davis' "Mass Appeal" premieres in NYC

Billy Martin

Nov 12 Billy Martin named AL Manager of Year (Oakland A's)

Nov 12 Great Britain performs nuclear test
Nov 12 Pilin Leon of Venezuela, crowned 31st Miss World

Wrack My Brain

Nov 13 Ringo Starr releases single "Wrack My Brain", written and produced by George Harrison, in the UK

Beatles Drummer, Singer, and Actor Ringo Starr

Nov 14 "Raise!" 11th studio album by Earth, Wind & Fire is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1982)
Nov 14 2nd NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Columbia 2 returns to Earth

Benitez vs. Santos

Nov 14 In the first world championship fight between 2 Puerto Ricans in boxing history, WBC Super Welterweight champion Wilfred Benitez beats Carlos Santos in a 15-round unanimous decision at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas

Nov 14 Old Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park repaired and working again
Nov 14 Pakistan all out 62 v Australia at WACA, Lillee 5-18
Nov 14 Paul 'Bear' Bryant ties Amos Alonzo Stagg with 314 football wins
Nov 15 Revival of "Camelot" opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 48 performances
Nov 16 Dennis Lillee kicks Javed Miandad after he had waved his bat at Dennis

Reagan's Covert Plan

Nov 16 President Reagan decides on a covert plan to block the Cuban aid to Nicaragua and El Salvador

Merrily We Roll Along

Nov 16 Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical "Merrily We Roll Along", based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's play, opens at Alvin Theater, NYC; runs for 16 performances

Nov 17 "1st" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 37 performances
Nov 17 NBA NY Knick Bill Cartwright, ties record of 19 of 19 free throws

Schmidt NL MVP

Nov 18 Phillies 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt wins his 2nd consecutive NL MVP

Nov 19 U.S. Steel agrees to pay $6.3 billion for Marathon Oil
Nov 20 Burundi adopts its constitution

A Soldier's Play

Nov 20 Charles Fuller's stage drama "A Soldier's Play", featuring Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, opens at Theater Four, NYC; runs for 468 performances, wins Pulitzer Prize

Nov 20 El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "limited offensive"
Nov 20 Ringo Starr releases album "Stop and Smell the Roses" in the UK

Karpov Retains Championship

Nov 20 Russian Anatoly Karpov retains world chess championship

Nov 21 400,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against cruise missiles

Physical

Nov 21 Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" single goes #1 & stays for 10 weeks

Waltrip Wins NASCAR

Nov 22 31st NASCAR Sprint Cup: Darrell Waltrip wins

Nov 22 Browns' QB Brian Sipe sets club record by being intercepted 6 times
Nov 22 CFL Grey Cup, Olympic Stadium, Montreal: Edmonton Eskimos 4th consecutive Championship; beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 26-23; final Grey Cup game for Rough Riders, fold in 1996
Nov 22 Jimmy Horowitz and Leo Rost's rock musical "Marlowe", a fictionalized account of Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, closes at Rialto Theater, NYC, after 48 performances
Nov 22 SD Charger Dan Fouts passes for 6 touchdowns vs Oakland (55-21)
Nov 22 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Nov 23 President Reagan vetoes House Joint Resolution 357 which called for further appropriations for fiscal year 1982
Nov 24 1st air-launched cruise missile tested
Nov 25 Failed coup by South African mercenaries in Seychelles

Event of Interest

Nov 25 Pope John Paul II names Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Benedict XVI) "Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith"

Nov 25 Rollie Fingers is 1st relief pitcher to win AL MVP
Nov 28 46th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 28-17 in Birmingham
Nov 28 Bear Bryant wins his 315th game to out distance Almos Alonzo Stagg, becomes college football's winningest coach

Muldoon Re-elected

Nov 28 New Zealand general election won by ruling National party and Prime Minister Robert Muldoon

New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon

Nov 28 Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical "Merrily We Roll Along", based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's play, closes at Alvin Theater, NYC, after 16 performances

Greg Chappell

Nov 29 Australian cricketer Greg Chappell scores 201 v Pakistan at The Gabba (Brisbane)

Nov 29 Major Iranian offensive mounted on central front
Nov 29 Revival of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's musical "My Fair Lady" closes at Uris Theater, NYC, after 119 performances
Nov 30 Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17)