At A Glance

8 April 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
8 April 1979 was a Sunday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.
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 8 April is Aries.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 8 April 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for April is Diamond.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 8 April 1979 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 8 April

  • 1968 BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
  • 1974 Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in career home runs by hitting his 715th home run off of Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
  • 1975 Voyageurs National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.
  • 1990 The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis is elected in the Greek parliamentary election.
  • 1993 The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.

Famous people born on April 8

  • Patricia Arquette, American actress and director (born 1968)
  • Chris Kyle, American sniper and memoirist (1974–2013)
  • Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer (born 1966)
  • Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter (born 1963)

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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