Significant Events
- Jan 17 Operation Desert Storm begins, with US-led coalition forces bombing Iraq, during the Gulf War
- Feb 7 The IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
- Feb 28 Gulf War ends after Iraq accepts a ceasefire following their retreat from Kuwait
- Mar 3 Los Angeles police officers severely beat motorist Rodney King, the beating is famously captured on amateur video and later leads to riots when the police officers are acquitted
- Apr 29 Cyclone strikes the Chittagong district in Bangladesh, killing 139,000 people and leaving 10 million homeless
- Jun 15 Climactic eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines, the second-largest volcanic eruption on Earth of the 20th century
- Jun 19 Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar surrenders to police
- Jul 10 Boris Yeltsin sworn in as 1st elected President of the Russian Federation
- Aug 6 Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet
- Aug 19 Conservative members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union attempt to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup d'état
1991 in Film & TV
- Jan 21 CBS News correspondant Bob Simon and four TV crew captured and held for 40 days by Iraqis in the Persian Gulf
1991 in Music
1991 in Sport
- Jan 9 Baseball officially bans Pete Rose from being elected to Hall of Fame for betting on baseball
- Feb 4 Batsmen Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones make a world record 467 run stand for New Zealand v Sri Lanka at the Basin Reserve in Wellington
- Oct 14 NY Rangers right wing Mike Gartner becomes the first player to score 500th NHL goals
- Nov 3 Ayrton Senna wins shortest Formula One race ever run (17 laps)
- Nov 7 Magic Johnson announces he has HIV virus & retires from LA Lakers
World Leaders in 1991
George H. W. Bush
41st US President
Jiang Zemin
Paramount Leader of China
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet General Secretary
Famous People in 1991
Anthony Hopkins
Oscar for Best Actor
Jodie Foster
Oscar for Best Actress
Michael Jordan
Sportsperson
of the Year
Bonnie Wright
Ed Sheeran
Jamie Lynn SpearsWould You Believe?
Ötzi the Iceman, 3,300 BCE old mummy discovered by German tourists in Italian alps
On September 19, 1991
Famous Weddings
- Feb 9 Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (42) weds equestrian Madeleine Gurdon (28) in Westminster, London
- Feb 14 Actress Meg Ryan (29) weds actor Dennis Quaid (37)
- Feb 15 Baseball superstar George Brett (37) weds Leslie Davenport in Manhattan Beach, California
- Feb 22 Actor Bill Bixby (57) weds Laura Michael (32)
- Mar 18 Apple computer head Steve Jobs weds Laurene Powell
Famous Divorces
- Apr 25 Designer Mary McFadden (52) announces divorce of Kohie Yohannan (23)
- Oct 5 Director Martin Scorsese (48) divorces producer Barbara De Fina (41) after 6 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
Dr. Seuss
(1904 - 1991)
Edwin Land
(1909 - 1991)
Freddie Mercury
(1946 - 1991)
Jiang Qing
(1914 - 1991)
Leo Durocher
(1906 - 1991)
Red Grange
(1903 - 1991)
