At A Glance

20 August 1981 at a glance

Day of the week
20 August 1981 was a Thursday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Endless Love” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.
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 20 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 August 1981 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 August 1981 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 20 August

  • 1975 Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
  • 1977 Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
  • 1988 "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.
  • 1988 Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
  • 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Famous people born on August 20

  • Andrew Garfield, American-English actor (born 1983)
  • Amy Adams, American actress (born 1974)
  • Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1992)
  • Ke Huy Quan, Vietnamese-American actor (born 1971)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

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.
More events of 1981 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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.

Hayden Panettiere21 August 1989Actress & singerView their day →Alan Ritchson28 November 1982ActorView their day →Anne Hathaway12 November 1982ActressView their day →Dakota Johnson4 October 1989Actress & modelView their day →Macklemore19 June 1983RapperView their day →Andrew Garfield20 August 1983ActorView their day →Julia Stiles28 March 1981ActressView their day →Taylor Swift13 December 1989Singer-songwriterView their day →

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

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