At A Glance

17 May 1977 at a glance

Day of the week
17 May 1977 was a Tuesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “When I Need You” by Leo Sayer.
Top Film of 1977
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1977 was Star Wars.
Bestselling Novel of 1977
“The Silmarillion” by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1977.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Laverne & Shirley” (ABC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1977–78 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 17 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 17 May 1977 fell in the Year of the Snake.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 17 May 1977 was New Moon.

On this day: 17 May

  • 1973 Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
  • 1977 Nolan Bushnell opens the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre (later renamed Chuck E. Cheese) in San Jose, California.
  • 1980 General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
  • 1980 On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
  • 1983 The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds [1.9 kt]), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request.

Famous people born on May 17

  • Josh Homme, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1973)
  • Bill Paxton, American actor and director (1955–2017)
  • Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (1936–2010)
  • Bob Saget, American comedian, actor, and television host (1956–2022)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1977 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1977 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 9 – Rock band Toto is founded by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.
  • February 4 – Fleetwood Mac's Grammy Award-winning album Rumours is released.
  • March 15 – Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Boheme. Also debuting is the ABC sitcom Three's Company.

Life in the US in 1977

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$0.62

Loaf of Bread

$0.37

Average House

$48,800

Weekly Wage

$218

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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