At A Glance

17 February 1981 at a glance

Day of the week
17 February 1981 was a Tuesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang.
Top Film of 1981
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1981 was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bestselling Novel of 1981
“Noble House” by James Clavell was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1981.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1981–82 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 17 February is Aquarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 17 February 1981 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for February is Amethyst.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 17 February 1981 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 17 February

  • 1972 Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model T.
  • 1974 Robert K. Preston, a disgruntled U.S. Army private, buzzes the White House in a stolen helicopter.
  • 1979 The Sino-Vietnamese War begins.
  • 1980 First winter ascent of Mount Everest by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
  • 1995 The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN.

Famous people born on February 17

  • Case Keenum, American football player (born 1988)
  • Ed Sheeran, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1991)
  • Michael Jordan, American basketball player, executive, and businessman (born 1963)
  • Jensen Huang, Taiwanese-American businessman, co-founded Nvidia (born 1963)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1981 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1981 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 31 – The 53rd Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, wins four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
  • April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
  • June 12 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg is released as the first film of the Indiana Jones film series.

Life in the US in 1981

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$1.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.54

Average House

$68,900

Weekly Wage

$285

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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