At A Glance

24 April 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
24 April 1979 was a Tuesday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart.
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 24 April is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 24 April 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for April is Diamond.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 24 April 1979 was Waning Crescent.

On this day: 24 April

  • 1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily".
  • 1970 China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
  • 1970 The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
  • 1990 STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
  • 1990 Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.

Famous people born on April 24

  • Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer (born 1934)
  • Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, talk show host (born 1982)
  • Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer (born 1942)
  • Jack Quaid, American actor (born 1992)

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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