What was going on when I was born?

The Labor Party, battered for two years by defections and splits, scored a convincing comeback in yesterday's elections to local councils in England and Wales -the first major test of partisan strength since the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took power two years ago. The Labor Party took control from the Conservatives in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds. The party now dominates the councils in all of England's most populous areas. In addition, Labor staged some surprising upsets in rural Conservative strongholds, including the counties of Cumbria, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

International Close U.S.-Japan consultations on matters of vital interest to Tokyo were pledged by President Reagan in a White House talk with Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, according to a United States official. Japan has objected to a lack of consultations on such issues as Mr. Reagan's decision to lift restrictions on grain shipments to the Soviet Union. (Page A1, Column 1.) Britain's Laborites scored a comeback in elections to local councils in England and Wales in the first major test of party strength in two years. The Labor Party took control from the Conservatives in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds and staged surprising upsets in some rural Conservative strongholds. (A1:2.)

Political activity beginning to stir in Turkey again A2 Schmidt silent on personal attacks by Begin A3 U.S. doubts Libya will cut off oil in reply to ouster of diplomats A3 U.S. priest who was missing in El Salvador criticizes U.S. A4 Around the World A5 Mexican leader criticizes U.S. on Nicaraguan policy A6 Arms aid for Argentina passes a House hurdle A7 Special U.S. envoy reaches Beirut for talks in crisis A8 Mood in Damascus is calm despite crisis over Lebanon A9 Government/Politics Watt says national parks are in "shameful" condition A17 White House defends decision to abolish Carter judicial plan A17 D'Amato expected to recommend Federal judge in Brooklyn B3 General Around the Nation A16 Videotaped testimony dominates ex-Tennessee Governor's trial A16 Ten indicted in alleged Dominica overthrow plot A16 Pay raises in New York being outpaced in other areas B2 Jersey town seeks to cope with strike by firemen B2 Detective denies contention he coached Crimmins B3 Official discounts radar as cause of collision in harbor B3 Two wives among dead in Air Force plane explosion B6 Features/Notes Man in the News: Zenko Suzuki, blunt guest from Japan A10 Notes on People C30 News Analysis Hedrick Smith discusses Reagan's victory on budget A1 Weekend Weekender Guide C1 New breed of clowns at the circus C1 Theater:Broadway C2 "The Little Foxes," with Misses Taylor and Stapleton C3 "The Idol Makers" at Soho Rep C9 Screen: "This Is Elvis" opens C8 At the Movies C8 "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears," Oscar winner, opens C10 "Second Hand Hearts," with Barbara Harris C11 Dance: Young stars in annual workshop C1 Art: Painting and the birth of photography C18 Museum of American Indian celebrates 65 years C21 Auctions C23 Books: Rare-book fair opens tomorrow C25 Publishing C26 "Basin and Range" by John McPhee reviewed C27 Restaurants C16 TV Weekend C31 Style The Evening Hours B4 A Broadway Ingenue named Elizabeth Taylor B4 Boycott on rights amendment divides psychiatric convention B4 Paris Vote: Parties B4 Sports Geiberger limiting his schedule on PGA Tour after surgery A22 Red Smith on baseball's star chamber A22 Dibbs ousts Kriek to reach quarterfinals at Forest Hills A22 Task force unmoved by N.Y.R.A. franchise extension bid A22 Flames beat Stars and trail 3-2 in series A22 Mets beat Giants, 3-2, after Torre shuffles lineup A23 Rockets top Celtics, 92-90, to tie series at 1-1 A23 Angels beat Yanks and John, 2-1 A23 Bowman, comatose boxer, is battling the long odds A23 Valenzuela wants a big season, then a big contract A26 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A30 Why destroy Conrail to save it? And why the commuter burden? The South Bronx looks to itself Tuning out controls on radio Letters A30 Tom Wicker: lessons from the NATO conference A31 Flora Lewis: the Rocquefort Principle A31 Geoffrey Colvin: the IRT and the Sky RT A31 Carol Bellamy: budget-cutting lessons A31

Americans bought $3.11 billion more on credit than they repaid on old debts during March, the Federal Reserve Board reported today. It was the largest growth of consumer installment credit in 18 months. Separately, big national retail chains reported sharp sales gains for April. Analysts noted that Easter came in late in the month this year, which helped raise sales over 1980, when Easter was early in April. They said that the weather this year was favorable and that credit controls had been in effect a year earlier. Sears Roebuck & Company reported a 20.5 percent increase, its best since December 1977. (Page D4.)

THE carefree buffoonery of the 27 clowns, three of them women, who perform acts and entr'actes in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus unit playing Madison Square Garden through May 31, is a series of infinitely varied capers, a premeditated assault on the senses. If the circus is spectacle designed to numb the onlooker with extravagant panorama, clowning is its quintessential art, the one thing without which the circus simply could not be the circus. There is a large ad hoc dressing room just off the Garden arena that bears the sign, ''Clown Alley.'' In it are tables, mirrors, racks of costumes and the clowns themselves, usually rushing through one change into another, running to make their entrance on a short avenue filled with the traffic of other acts - elephants, dancing bears, tiger cages, horses, wagons, funny motor cars, gorgeous trapeze artists. The clowns, with bulbous noses, billowing wigs, baggy pants and the paraphernalia of their skits, are always in evidence because there is rarely much time between their appearances. ''We are always in the show,'' said Lou Jacobs, the dean of Ringling's clowns. ''We always have to listen to the music because that tells us what is happening.''

The United States Treasury was forced yesterday to pay the highest price ever for 30-year financing of Government debt. The Treasury auctioned $2 billion of new 13 7/8 percent, 30-year bonds at an average yield of 13.99 percent, up from 12.68 percent in February. The bond sale marked the end of a very expensive week of financing for the Treasury, which earlier sold new 3-year and 10-year notes at record yields of 15.81 percent and 14.56 percent, respectively. Analysts explained that already-high interest rates were pushed even higher over the past week when short-term interest rates rose sharply as a result of the Federal Reserve's efforts to reduce the growth of the nation's money supply.

The International Monetary Fund has obtained loan commitments from Arab oil exporting countries and some key Western industrial nations for up to $25 billion to help debt-ridden developing countries finance foreign payments and energy projects. Fund officials said that Jacques de Larosiere, the managing director of the 141-nation agency, would report in detail on the new plan for recycling surplus petrodollars to oil-importing countries when the fund's policy-making interim committee meets in Gabon May 21. The principal contributor to the fund's new borrowing is Saudi Arabia, which has agreed to lend the fund eight billion in special drawing rights, equal to $9.6 billion, over this year and next, and eight billion in S.D.R.'s for a third year, if Saudi Arabia has sufficient foreign exchange reserves. Special drawing rights, sometimes called paper gold, are an internationally created reserve asset whose value fluctuates according to a market basket of currencies.

Legislative leaders and Governor Carey announced agreement today on virtually the same version of the $16.6 billion state budget they had presented as an accord on April 28. ''I hope this time we've got it right,'' said Stanley Fink, the Assembly Speaker. For the last week, the Senate majority leader, Warren M. Anderson, Republican of Binghamton, contended that there had been a ''misunderstanding'' about long-range tax cuts his Senate colleagues had sought and that he could not therefore support the initial agreement. Tax Relief Improvements Today, the Democrats offered an increase in their initial taxrelief plan, changing it from $1 billion over five years to $1.15 billion for the same period. The offer seemed to make the accord more palatable to Senator Anderson, who said: ''I don't think it's last week's agreement. There are substantial cuts in taxes.'' He calculated that the Democrats' new program was worth $1.2 billion. The Republicans had sought a $2 billion program.

''It isn't like in the movies, where it gushes out of the ground and people start shouting Eureka!,'' said Glen Frantz, a Texaco foreman from Longview, Tex., who speaks about as fast as heavy oil pours. ''More likely they just stand around and say, 'Well, there it is.' '' People standing around the Texaco Inc. drilling site in the northern jungle of Guatemala near here had reason to utter that laconic salutation the first week in April. Oil was struck at 7,500 feet, and preparations were made to probe two more promising spots nearby.

The State Court of Appeals today rejected a challenge to a state law that requires landlords to permit the installation of cable television facilities for the use of his tenants, or of the tenants of other buildings. The court, the state's highest, ruled 6 to 1 that the 1973 law, which limits the ability of landlords to win payments from cable companies for the installation of cable facilities in their buildings, did not constitute a ''taking'' of private property requiring reimbursement. Rather, the court held that the law constituted a legitimate use of police power by the Legislature to foster the ''rapid development of and maximum penetration by a means of communication which has important educational and community aspects.''

''I hope this time we've got it right.'' - Stanley Fink, Assembly Speaker, on New York State budget agreement. (A1:3.)

The outlawed Irish Republican Army staged a funeral today for Robert Sands, burying him with what it called ''full military honors.'' Seven I.R.A. members, masked and dressed in camouflaged battle fatigues, escorted the body of Mr. Sands, who died in prison Tuesday on the 66th day of a hunger strike, on a three-mile procession through west Belfast. It was the biggest demonstration that the I.R.A. had staged here in years, with several thousand people marching along and several thousand others lining the route. At one point, the procession halted for a moment of silence as three other uniformed I.R.A. men fired three ceremonial rifle volleys.