At A Glance

17 July 1978 at a glance

Day of the week
17 July 1978 was a Monday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Shadow Dancing” by Andy Gibb.
Top Film of 1978
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1978 was Grease.
Bestselling Novel of 1978
“Chesapeake” by James A. Michener was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1978.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Laverne & Shirley” (ABC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1978–79 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 17 July is Cancer.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 17 July 1978 fell in the Year of the Horse.
Birthstone
The birthstone for July is Ruby.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 17 July 1978 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 17 July

  • 1968 Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
  • 1973 King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.
  • 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
  • 1976 East Timor is annexed and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
  • 1976 The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the games because of New Zealand's participation. Contrary to rulings by other international sports organizations, the IOC had declined to exclude New Zealand because of their participation in South African sporting events during apartheid.

Famous people born on July 17

  • Brett Goldstein, British actor, comedian and writer (born 1980)
  • Billie Lourd, American actress (born 1992)
  • Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor and producer (1935–2024)
  • Queen Camilla, Queen Consort of King Charles III of the United Kingdom (born 1947)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1978 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1978 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • February 6 – The first Home Depot opens in Marietta, Georgia.
  • April 2 – The CBS soap opera Dallas is launched. It is set to be aired later this year in several countries, including the United Kingdom by the BBC.
  • April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope for the final time, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Woody Allen's Annie Hall wins Best Picture, with Allen winning Best Director.

Life in the US in 1978

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$0.63

Loaf of Bread

$0.39

Average House

$55,700

Weekly Wage

$234

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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