At A Glance
18 December 1980 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 18 December 1980 was a Thursday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Lady” by Kenny Rogers.
- Top Film of 1980
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1980 was The Empire Strikes Back.
- Bestselling Novel of 1980
- “The Covenant” by James A. Michener was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1980.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1980–81 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 18 December is Sagittarius.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 18 December 1980 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 18 December 1980 was Waxing Gibbous.
On this day: 18 December
- 1958 Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.
- 1966 Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by astronomer Richard Walker.
- 1973 Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
- 1999 NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
- 2002 California gubernatorial recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
Famous people born on December 18
- Brad Pitt, American actor and producer (born 1963)
- Steven Spielberg, American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks (born 1946)
- Jayden Daniels, American football player (born 2000)
- Billie Eilish, American singer (born 2001)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Events of 1980 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '1980 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- January 27 – Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran as they board a flight to Zurich, Switzerland.
- March 22 – The Georgia Guidestones are erected in Elbert County, Georgia.
- April 15 – A mass exodus of Cubans to the United States known as the Mariel boatlift begins. It ends on October 31 by agreement between the two countries.
Life in the US in 1980
President
Jimmy Carter
Gas (per gallon)
$1.19
Loaf of Bread
$0.50
Average House
$64,600
Weekly Wage
$267
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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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