At A Glance

8 February 1979 at a glance

Day of the week
8 February 1979 was a Thursday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Le Freak” by Chic.
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 February is Aquarius.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 8 February 1979 fell in the Year of the Goat.
Birthstone
The birthstone for February is Amethyst.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 8 February 1979 was Waxing Gibbous.

On this day: 8 February

  • 1960 Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
  • 1963 The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
  • 1971 South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.
  • 1974 The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.
  • 1983 A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.

Famous people born on February 8

  • Mary Steenburgen, American actress (born 1953)
  • James Dean, American actor (1931–1955)
  • Kathryn Newton, American actress (born 1997)
  • John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1932)

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.
More events of 1979 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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

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Famous Faces Born in the 1970s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Keri Russell23 March 1976ActressView their day →Tupac Shakur16 June 1971Rapper & actorView their day →Zoe Saldaña19 June 1978ActressView their day →Christopher Nolan30 July 1970FilmmakerView their day →Jon Bernthal20 September 1976ActorView their day →Jason Sudeikis18 September 1975Actor & comedianView their day →Milo Ventimiglia8 July 1977ActorView their day →Sarah Paulson17 December 1974ActressView their day →

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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