At A Glance

20 January 1972 at a glance

Day of the week
20 January 1972 was a Thursday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “American Pie” by Don McLean.
Top Film of 1972
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1972 was The Godfather.
Bestselling Novel of 1972
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1972.
Top-Rated TV Show
“All in the Family” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1972–73 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 January is Aquarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 January 1972 fell in the Year of the Pig.
Birthstone
The birthstone for January is Garnet.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 January 1972 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 20 January

  • 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.
  • 1990 Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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 1972 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1972 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 15 – The Godfather has its premiere at the Loew's State Theatre in New York City.
  • April 10 – The 44th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jack Lemmon, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. William Friedkin's The French Connection wins five awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Friedkin.
  • April 12 – The X-rated animated movie Fritz the Cat is released.
More events of 1972 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1972

President

Richard Nixon

Gas (per gallon)

$0.36

Loaf of Bread

$0.25

Average House

$19,400

Weekly Wage

$154

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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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