At A Glance

19 August 1978 at a glance

Day of the week
19 August 1978 was a Saturday.
Irish Chart Song in 1978
The Irish chart song for 1978 was “Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl in the Ring” by Boney M.
Top Film of 1978
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1978 was Grease.
Star sign
The star sign for 19 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 19 August 1978 fell in the Year of the Horse.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 19 August 1978 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 19 August

  • 1981 Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
  • 1981 Silvio Santos launches a new Brazilian television channel in São Paulo, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão.
  • 1989 Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
  • 1989 Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
  • 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.

Famous people born on 19 August

  • Bill Clinton, American lawyer and politician, 40th and 42nd Governor of Arkansas, 42nd President of the United States (born 1946)
  • Kirk Cousins, American football player (born 1988)
  • Matthew Perry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (1969–2023)
  • Kyra Sedgwick, American actress and producer (born 1965)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1978 in Ireland

A selection from Wikipedia's '1978 in Ireland'. Not a complete list.

  • 18 January – The European Court of Human Rights found Britain guilty of inhuman and degrading treatment of republican internees in Northern Ireland.
  • 19 January – The Fianna Fáil government dismissed the Garda Commissioner Edmund Garvey. No explanation was given.
  • 31 March – Six thousand people marched through Dublin to Wood Quay to protest against the building of civic offices above an ancient Viking settlement.

Life in Ireland in 1978

Taoiseach

Jack Lynch

Petrol (per litre)

£0.68/gal

Loaf of Bread

£0.21

Average House

£17,000

Weekly Wage

£37

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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