At A Glance

20 January 1957 at a glance

Day of the week
20 January 1957 was a Sunday.
Top Film of 1957
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1957 was The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Bestselling Novel of 1957
“By Love Possessed” by James Gould Cozzens was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1957.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Gunsmoke” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1957–58 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 January is Aquarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 January 1957 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
Birthstone
The birthstone for January is Garnet.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 January 1957 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 20 January

  • 1942 World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".
  • 1945 World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
  • 1945 World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
  • 1954 In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
  • 1972 Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Famous people born on January 20

  • J. J. McCarthy, American football player (born 2003)
  • David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter (1946–2025)
  • Evan Peters, American actor (born 1987)
  • Sid Wilson, American musician (born 1977)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1957 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1957 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 4 – Standard & Poor's first publishes the S&P 500 Index in the United States.
  • July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
  • September 5 – Viking Press publishes On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Life in the US in 1957

President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gas (per gallon)

$0.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.19

Average House

$10,600

Weekly Wage

$77

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

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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