UK, 
US, 
Australia & 
IrelandAt A Glance
23 January 1981 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 23 January 1981 was a Friday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon.
- Top Film of 1981
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1981 was Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Bestselling Novel of 1981
- “Noble House” by James Clavell was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1981.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “Dallas” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1981–82 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 23 January is Aquarius.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 23 January 1981 fell in the Year of the Monkey.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for January is Garnet.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 23 January 1981 was Waning Gibbous.
On this day: 23 January
- 1967 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
- 1967 Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty-one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
- 1968 USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by the Korean People's Navy.
- 1986 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
- 1997 Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
Famous people born on January 23
- Mariska Hargitay, American actress and producer (born 1964)
- Tiffani Thiessen, American actress (born 1974)
- Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian freedom fighter and politician (1897–1945)
- Sully Sullenberger, American airline pilot and safety expert (born 1951)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.
Events of 1981 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '1981 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- March 31 – The 53rd Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, wins four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
- April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
- June 12 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg is released as the first film of the Indiana Jones film series.
Life in the US in 1981
President
Ronald Reagan
Gas (per gallon)
$1.31
Loaf of Bread
$0.54
Average House
$68,900
Weekly Wage
$285
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.
Hayden Panettiere21 August 1989Actress & singerView their day →Alan Ritchson28 November 1982ActorView their day →Anne Hathaway12 November 1982ActressView their day →Dakota Johnson4 October 1989Actress & modelView their day →Macklemore19 June 1983RapperView their day →Andrew Garfield20 August 1983ActorView their day →Julia Stiles28 March 1981ActressView their day →Taylor Swift13 December 1989Singer-songwriterView their day →Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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