At A Glance

22 December 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
22 December 1979 was a Saturday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes.
Top Film of 1979
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1979 was Moonraker.
Bestselling Novel of 1979
“The Matarese Circle” by Robert Ludlum was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1979.
Top-Rated TV Show
“60 Minutes” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1979–80 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 22 December is Capricorn.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 22 December 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 22 December 1979 was Waxing Crescent.

On this day: 22 December

  • 1971 The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France.
  • 1974 Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
  • 1975 U.S. President Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis.
  • 1978 The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for the reform and opening up.
  • 1987 In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.

Famous people born on December 22

  • Ralph Fiennes, English actor (born 1962)
  • Ted Cruz, Canadian-American lawyer and politician (born 1970)
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat, American painter and poet (1960–1988)
  • Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (1887–1920)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1979 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1979 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • February 20 – This Old House premieres on PBS.
  • March 29 – America's most serious nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
  • April 1 – Nickelodeon debuts on cable television, playing children's television shows 24 hours a day. Pinwheel, which first premiered on the channel C-3 in 1977, was one of the first shows to be broadcast on the channel.

Life in the US in 1979

President

Jimmy Carter

Gas (per gallon)

$0.86

Loaf of Bread

$0.43

Average House

$62,900

Weekly Wage

$250

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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