At A Glance

20 April 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
20 April 1979 was a Friday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “What a Fool Believes” by The Doobie Brothers.
Top Film of 1979
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1979 was Moonraker.
Bestselling Novel of 1979
“The Matarese Circle” by Robert Ludlum was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1979.
Top-Rated TV Show
“60 Minutes” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1979–80 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 April is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 April 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for April is Diamond.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 April 1979 was Waning Crescent.

On this day: 20 April

  • 1961 Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
  • 1968 English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.
  • 1972 Apollo program: The Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the Moon.
  • 1985 University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights.
  • 2008 Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.

Famous people born on April 20

  • Alexander Zverev, German tennis player (born 1997)
  • Jessica Lange, American actress (born 1949)
  • Andy Serkis, English actor and director (born 1964)
  • Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France, Emperor of French Second Empire (1808–1873)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1979 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1979 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • February 20 – This Old House premieres on PBS.
  • March 29 – America's most serious nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
  • April 1 – Nickelodeon debuts on cable television, playing children's television shows 24 hours a day. Pinwheel, which first premiered on the channel C-3 in 1977, was one of the first shows to be broadcast on the channel.
More events of 1979 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1979

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$0.86

Loaf of Bread

$0.43

Average House

$62,900

Weekly Wage

$250

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Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Keri Russell23 March 1976ActressView their day →Tupac Shakur16 June 1971Rapper & actorView their day →Zoe Saldaña19 June 1978ActressView their day →Christopher Nolan30 July 1970FilmmakerView their day →Jon Bernthal20 September 1976ActorView their day →Jason Sudeikis18 September 1975Actor & comedianView their day →Milo Ventimiglia8 July 1977ActorView their day →Sarah Paulson17 December 1974ActressView their day →

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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