At A Glance

18 December 1980 at a glance

Day of the week
18 December 1980 was a Thursday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon.
Top Film of 1980
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1980 was The Empire Strikes Back.
Star sign
The star sign for 18 December is Sagittarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 18 December 1980 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 18 December 1980 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 18 December

  • 1958 Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.
  • 1966 Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.
  • 1973 Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
  • 1999 NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
  • 2002 California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.

Famous people born on 18 December

  • Brad Pitt, American actor and producer (born 1963)
  • Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks (born 1946)
  • Jayden Daniels, American football player (born 2000)
  • Billie Eilish, American singer (born 2001)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1980 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1980 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 2 January – Workers at British Steel Corporation go on a nationwide strike over pay called by the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, which has some 90,000 members among British Steel's 150,000 workforce, in a bid to get a 20% rise.
  • 25 February – The first episode of the popular political sitcom Yes Minister is broadcast on BBC2 television.
  • 31 March – National Heritage Act sets up the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Life in 1980

Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

45p

Loaf of Bread

33p

Average House

£23,596

Weekly Wage

£120.00

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1980s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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