At A Glance

23 August 1972 at a glance

Day of the week
23 August 1972 was a Wednesday.
UK Number One
The UK Number One single was “School's Out” by Alice Cooper.
Top Film of 1972
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1972 was The Godfather.
Star sign
The star sign for 23 August is Virgo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 23 August 1972 fell in the Year of the Rat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 23 August 1972 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 23 August

  • 1966 Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.
  • 1970 Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.
  • 1975 The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.
  • 1975 The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.
  • 1977 Waylon Jennings arrested in a drug raid.

Famous people born on 23 August

  • River Phoenix, American actor (1970–1993)
  • Kobe Bryant, American basketball player and businessman (1978–2020)
  • Scott Caan, American actor (born 1976)
  • Louis XVI (1754–1793)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1972 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1972 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 1 April – William Whitelaw is appointed as the first Northern Ireland Secretary.
  • 4 April – First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television children's programme Newsround.
  • 12 May – The Crown Court is established by the Courts Act 1971 to replace the courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions in England and Wales. Property qualifications requiring jurors to be householders are abolished.

Life in 1972

Prime Minister

Edward Heath

Monarch

Elizabeth II

Pint of Beer

18p

Loaf of Bread

11p

Average House

£7,374

Weekly Wage

£36.10

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

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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