At A Glance

21 October 1983 at a glance

Day of the week
21 October 1983 was a Friday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler.
Top Film of 1983
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1983 was Return of the Jedi.
Bestselling Novel of 1983
“Return of the Jedi” by James Kahn was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1983.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1983–84 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 21 October is Libra.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 21 October 1983 fell in the Year of the Pig.
Birthstone
The birthstone for October is Opal.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 21 October 1983 was Full Moon.

On this day: 21 October

  • 1978 Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
  • 1979 Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.
  • 1981 Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.
  • 1983 The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
  • 1984 Niki Lauda claims his third and final Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by half a point ahead of McLaren team-mate Alain Prost at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Famous people born on October 21

  • Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli captain and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Israel (born 1949)
  • Kim Kardashian, American reality television personality, actress, model, businesswoman and socialite (born 1980)
  • Glen Powell, American actor (born 1988)
  • Carrie Fisher, American actress and screenwriter (1956–2016)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1983 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1983 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 25 – Rob Lowe's feature film debut The Outsiders is released.
  • April 11 – The 55th Academy Awards, hosted by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau, are held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Richard Attenborough's Gandhi receives 11 nominations and wins eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
  • April 18 – The Disney Channel is initiated on American cable TV.

Life in the US in 1983

President

Ronald Reagan

Gas (per gallon)

$1.16

Loaf of Bread

$0.59

Average House

$75,300

Weekly Wage

$308

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.

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

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