At A Glance

20 January 1969 at a glance

Day of the week
20 January 1969 was a Monday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye.
Top Film of 1969
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1969 was Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Bestselling Novel of 1969
“Portnoy's Complaint” by Philip Roth was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1969.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1969–70 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 January is Aquarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 January 1969 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
Birthstone
The birthstone for January is Garnet.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 January 1969 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 20 January

  • 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.
  • 1974 China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.
  • 1986 In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
  • 1986 Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya.

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 1969 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1969 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • February 9 – The Boeing 747 makes its maiden flight, from Paine Field at Everett, Washington.
  • May 25 – Midnight Cowboy, an X-rated, Oscar-winning John Schlesinger film, is released.
  • June 28 – The Stonewall riots in New York City mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.

Life in the US in 1969

President

Richard Nixon

Gas (per gallon)

$0.35

Loaf of Bread

$0.24

Average House

$17,400

Weekly Wage

$130

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1960s

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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