At A Glance

5 August 1957 at a glance

Day of the week
5 August 1957 was a Monday.
Top Film of 1957
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1957 was The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Bestselling Novel of 1957
“By Love Possessed” by James Gould Cozzens was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1957.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Gunsmoke” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1957–58 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 5 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 5 August 1957 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 5 August 1957 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 5 August

  • 1957 American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
  • 1960 Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
  • 1962 Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
  • 1963 Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
  • 1965 The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.

Famous people born on August 5

  • James Gunn, American filmmaker (born 1966)
  • Wendell Berry, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist (1934–2026)
  • Angry Anderson, Australian singer and actor (1947–2026)
  • Neil Armstrong, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut, first man to walk on the Moon (1930–2012)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1957 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1957 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 4 – Standard & Poor's first publishes the S&P 500 Index in the United States.
  • July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
  • September 5 – Viking Press publishes On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Life in the US in 1957

President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gas (per gallon)

$0.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.19

Average House

$10,600

Weekly Wage

$77

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

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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