At A Glance

23 August 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
23 August 1979 was a Thursday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Good Times” by Chic.
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 23 August is Virgo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 23 August 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 23 August 1979 was New Moon.

On this day: 23 August

  • 1970 Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.
  • 1975 The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration.
  • 1975 The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.
  • 1977 Waylon Jennings arrested in a drug raid.
  • 1985 Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.

Famous people born on August 23

  • River Phoenix, American actor (1970–1993)
  • Kobe Bryant, American basketball player and businessman (1978–2020)
  • Scott Caan, American actor (born 1976)
  • Louis XVI (1754–1793)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

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

Browse by Year

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)

About The Day You Were Born

Ever wondered what was happening in the world when you took your first breath? Our birthday lookup tool reveals the fascinating history of your special day.

About The Birthday Chronicle and where our data comes from →