UK, 
US, 
Australia & 
IrelandAt A Glance
3 December 1988 at a glance
- Day of the week
- 3 December 1988 was a Saturday.
- Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
- The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley” by Will to Power.
- Top Film of 1988
- The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1988 was Rain Man.
- Bestselling Novel of 1988
- “The Cardinal of the Kremlin” by Tom Clancy was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1988.
- Top-Rated TV Show
- “The Cosby Show” (NBC) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1988–89 season.
- Star sign
- The star sign for 3 December is Sagittarius.
- Chinese zodiac
- In the Chinese zodiac, 3 December 1988 fell in the Year of the Dragon.
- Birthstone
- The birthstone for December is Turquoise.
- Moon phase
- The moon phase on 3 December 1988 was Waning Crescent.
On this day: 3 December
- 1989 In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.
- 1992 The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching A Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
- 1992 A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.
- 1994 Taiwan holds its first full local elections; James Soong elected as the first and only directly elected Governor of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian became the first directly elected Mayor of Taipei, Wu Den-yih became the first directly elected Mayor of Kaohsiung.
- 1994 Sony releases the PlayStation game console in Japan.
Famous people born on December 3
- Jenna Dewan, American actress and dancer (born 1980)
- Amanda Seyfried, American actress (born 1985)
- Ozzy Osbourne, English singer-songwriter (1948–2025)
- Brendan Fraser, American actor and producer (born 1968)
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Events of 1988 in the United States
A selection from Wikipedia's '1988 in the United States'. Not a complete list.
- January 1 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is established, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
- January 4 – Nick Jr. begins as a block of Nickelodeon programming for younger children.
- March 9 – Blackstone Financial Management is founded as a global asset management company in New York City by eight co-founders, led by Larry Fink. In 1992, it would change its name to BlackRock.
Life in the US in 1988
President
Ronald Reagan
Gas (per gallon)
$0.90
Loaf of Bread
$0.70
Average House
$99,700
Weekly Wage
$374
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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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