At A Glance

19 July 1981 at a glance

Day of the week
19 July 1981 was a Sunday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes.
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 19 July is Cancer.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 19 July 1981 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for July is Ruby.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 19 July 1981 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 19 July

  • 1977 The world's first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal is transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time (ET).
  • 1979 The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
  • 1980 Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
  • 1981 In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
  • 1983 The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.

Famous people born on July 19

  • Demi Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (1950–2022)
  • Vitali Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer and politician, Mayor of Kyiv (born 1971)
  • Jon Jones, American mixed martial artist (born 1987)
  • Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor (born 1976)

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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