At A Glance

20 May 1974 at a glance

Day of the week
20 May 1974 was a Monday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “The Streak” by Ray Stevens.
Top Film of 1974
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1974 was The Towering Inferno.
Bestselling Novel of 1974
“Centennial” by James A. Michener was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1974.
Top-Rated TV Show
“All in the Family” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1974–75 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 May 1974 fell in the Year of the Tiger.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 May 1974 was Waning Crescent.

On this day: 20 May

  • 1964 Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
  • 1967 The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
  • 1980 In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, with 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
  • 1983 First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.

Famous people born on May 20

  • Enes Kanter Freedom, Turkish basketball player (born 1992)
  • Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author (born 1964)
  • Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (born 1946)
  • Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer (born 1968)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1974 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1974 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • January 15 – Happy Days, a sitcom about life in the 1950s, debuts on ABC.
  • March 4 – People magazine's first issue is published in the U.S., with Mia Farrow on the cover.
  • April 2 – The 46th Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross, John Huston and David Niven, is held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. George Roy Hill's The Sting wins seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Hill.

Life in the US in 1974

President

Richard Nixon

Gas (per gallon)

$0.53

Loaf of Bread

$0.34

Average House

$25,900

Weekly Wage

$176

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

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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