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1979 by topic
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1979 (MCMLXXIX ) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar , the 1979th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 979th year of the 2nd millennium , the 79th year of the 20th century , and the 10th and last year of the 1970s decade.
1979
Events [ ]
January [ ]
January 1
January 4 – The State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of the dead and injured in the Kent State shootings .
January 7 – The People's Army of Vietnam and Vietnamese-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh , Cambodia , and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border, ending large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War .
January 8 – Whiddy Island Disaster : The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry , Ireland; 50 are killed.
January 9 – The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly to raise money for UNICEF and promote the Year of the Child. It is broadcast the following day in the United States and around the world. Hosted by the Bee Gees , other performers include Donna Summer , ABBA , Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire . A soundtrack album is later released.
January 16 – Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt after a year of turmoil.
January 19 – Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell is released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.
January 21 – The Pittsburgh Steelers stake their claim as the NFL team of the 1970s by beating the Dallas Cowboys 35-31 at Miami 's Orange Bowl in Super Bowl XIII .
January 22 – Uganda–Tanzania War : Battle of Mutukula : The Tanzanian military captures the Ugandan border town of Mutukula after a short battle.
January 25 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Mexico City for his first visit to Mexico, mainly for 1979's Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) or Conference of Puebla .
January 26 – The Dukes of Hazzard debuts on CBS .
January 29 – Cleveland Elementary School shooting (San Diego) : Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire at a school in San Diego , California, killing two faculty members and wounding eight students and a police officer. Her justification for the action, "I don't like Mondays", inspires the Boomtown Rats to make a song of the same name .
February [ ]
March [ ]
March 1
March 2 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Tororo : Ugandan rebels attack and capture the town of Tororo .
March 4
The U.S. Voyager 1 spaceprobe photos reveal Jupiter's rings .
Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Tororo: The Ugandan military retakes Tororo from rebels.
March 5 – Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 277,000 kilometres (172,000 mi).
March 7 – The largest Magnetar (Soft gamma repeater ) event is recorded.
March 8 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.
March 10 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Lukaya : The Ugandan military, a Libyan expionary force and allied Palestine Liberation Organisation militants begin a counter-offensive against Tanzanian troops in south-central Uganda. The Ugandan-led alliance retakes Lukaya after a short clash with the Tanzanian military.
March 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Battle of Lukaya: The Tanzanian military counter-attacks at Lukaya, completely defeating the Ugandan-led alliance. This defeat permanently cripples the Ugandan military.
March 13 – Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada . His government will be crushed by American intervention in 1983 .
March 14 – In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200.
March 16 – End of major hostilities in the Sino-Vietnamese War .
March 17 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the UK collapses, killing two workers.
March 18 – Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan , Greater Manchester , England.[2]
March 22 – The NHL votes to approve its merger with the WHA , effective in the fall.
March 25 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia , is delivered to the Kennedy Space Center , to be prepared for its first launch.
March 26
March 28
March 29 – Sultan Yahya Petra of Kelantan , the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia , dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang .
March 30 – Airey Neave , World War II veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed, presumably by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the British House of Commons car park.
March 31
April [ ]
April 1
Iran 's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.
The Pinwheel Network changes its name to Nickelodeon and begins airing on various Warner Cable systems beginning in Buffalo, New York, expanding its audience reach.
April 1 –18 – Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz , Austria and forget about him, leaving him there without food or drink.
April 2 – Sverdlovsk anthrax leak : A Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock . It is a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 .
April 4 – Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed by hanging for the murder of a political opponent.
April 6 – Student protests break out in Nepal .
April 7 – In Japan, Yoshiyuki Tomino directed Mobile Suit Gundam , the first series of the metaseries of the same name.
April 10 – A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas , killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day ).
April 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Fall of Kampala : Tanzanian troops take Kampala , the capital of Uganda; Idi Amin flees.
April 13 – The La Soufrière volcano erupts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines .
April 15 – 1979 Montenegro earthquake : A major earthquake 7.0 strikes Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia ) and parts of Albania , causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives; the old town of Budva is devastated.
April 17 – Schoolchildren in the Central African Republic are arrested (and around 100 killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms . An African judicial commission later determines that Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa "almost certainly" took part in the massacre.
April 22 – The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
April 23 – Fighting breaks out in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police 's Special Patrol Group ; protester Blair Peach receives fatal injuries during the incident, now officially attributed to the SPG.
May [ ]
June [ ]
July [ ]
August [ ]
August 3 – Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo .
August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther , first-ever league game of American football in Germany.[7]
August 5 – The Polisario Front signs a peace treaty with Mauritania . Mauritania withdraws from the Western Sahara territory it had occupied, and cedes it to the SADR .
August 8 – Two American commercial divers , Richard Walker and Victor Guiel, die of hypothermia after their diving bell becomes stranded at a depth of over 160 metres (520 ft) in the East Shetland Basin . The legal repercussions of the accident will lead to important safety changes in the diving industry.[8] [9]
August 9 – Raymond Washington , co-founder of the Crips , today one of the largest, most notorious gangs in the United States, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; the killers have not yet been identified.
August 10 – Michael Jackson releases his breakthrough album Off the Wall . It sells 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7× platinum album.
August 11
August 14 – A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the deaths of 15 sailors.
August 17 – The controversial religious satirical film Monty Python's Life of Brian , premieres in the United States.
August 27 – Lord Mountbatten of Burma and two others are killed immediately in a bombing by Provisional Irish Republican Army assassins. Mountbatten was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh . On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs, killing 18 British soldiers. Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne would die in a hospital the following day (August 28) from her injuries in the Mountbatten bombing.
August 29 – A national referendum is held in which Somali voters approve a new liberal constitution, promulgated by President Siad Barre to placate the United States.
September [ ]
October [ ]
October 1 – Nigeria terminates military rule, and the Second Nigerian Republic is established.
October 1 –7 – Pope John Paul II visits the United States, starting in Boston .
October 1 – The MTR , the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens.
October 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in New York City for his first papal tour where he addresses the U.N. General Assembly against all forms of concentration camps and torture .
October 6 – Federal Reserve System changes from an interest rate target policy to a money supply target policy.
October 7 – Pope John Paul II ends his first U.S. papal visit in Washington, D.C. with his first ever visit to the White House .
October 9 – Peter Brock wins the Bathurst 1000 by a record six laps, with a lap record on the last lap.
October 12
October 14 – National March for gay rights takes place in Washington, D.C. , involving tens of thousands of people.
October 15 – Black Monday events, in which members of a political group sack a newspaper office, unfold in Malta.
October 16 – A tsunami in Nice, France kills 23 people.
October 19 – 13 U.S. Marines die in a fire at Camp Fuji , Japan as a result of Typhoon Tip.[10]
October 20 – The first McDonald's in Singapore opens at Liat Towers in Orchard Road.[11] [12]
October 26 – Park Chung-hee , the President of South Korea , is assassinated by KCIA director Kim Jae-gyu .
October 27 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence from the UK.
October 31 – Western Airlines Flight 2605 crashes upon landing at Mexico City International Airport, killing 72 occupants plus one on the ground; 16 people on board survive.
November [ ]
November 1
November 2
French police shoot gangster Jacques Mesrine in Paris.
Assata Shakur (née Joanne Chesimard), a former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, escapes from a New York prison to Cuba, where she remains under political asylum.
November 3 – In Greensboro, North Carolina , five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot to death and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis , during a "Death to the Klan" rally.
November 4 – Iran hostage crisis begins: 500 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial.
November 5
November 6 – At Montevideo , Uruguay , the International Olympic Committee adopts a resolution, whereby Taiwan Olympic and sports teams will participate with the name Chinese Taipei in future Olympic Games and international sports tournaments and championships.
November 7 – U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy announces that he will challenge President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.
November 9
The Carl Bridgewater murder trial ends in England with all four men found guilty. James Robinson, 45, and 25-year-old Vincent Hickey are sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended 25-year minimum for murder. 18-year-old Michael Hickey is also found guilty of murder and sentenced to indefinite detention. Patrick Molloy, 53, is found guilty on a lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison.[13]
Nuclear false alarm : the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland , detect an apparent massive Soviet nuclear strike . After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars , the alert is cancelled.[14]
November 10 – 1979 Mississauga train derailment : A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.
November 12
November 14 – Iran hostage crisis : U.S. President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170 , freezing all Iranian assets in the United States and U.S. banks in response to the hostage crisis.
November 15 – British art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt 's role as the "fourth man" of the 'Cambridge Five ' double agents for the Soviet NKVD during World War II is revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom ;[15] she gives further details on November 21.[16]
November 16 – Bucharest Metro Line One is opened, in Bucharest , Romania (from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea stations, 8.63 kilometres (5.36 mi)).
November 17 – Iran hostage crisis : Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and African American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran .
November 20 – Grand Mosque seizure : A group of 200 Juhayman al-Otaybi militants occupy Mecca 's Masjid al-Haram , the holiest place in Islam. They are driven out by French commandos (allowed into the city under these special circumstances despite their being non-Muslims) after bloody fighting that leaves 250 people dead and 600 wounded.
November 21 – After false radio reports from the Ayatollah Khomeini that the Americans had occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca , the United States Embassy in Islamabad , Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set afire, killing 4, and disturbing Pakistan–United States relations .
November 23 – In Dublin , Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten of Burma .
November 25 – Last cargo of phosphate shipped from Banaba Island .
November 28 – Air New Zealand Flight 901 : an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus in Antarctica on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.
November 30 – The Wall , a rock opera and concept album by Pink Floyd , is first released.
December [ ]
December 3
December 4 – The Hastie fire in Kingston upon Hull , England, leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee , the UK's most prolific killer.
December 5 – Jack Lynch resigns as Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland; he is succeeded by Charles Haughey .
December 6 – The world premiere of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
December 7 – Mathieu Laborde, Sylvain Deslandes, Aurelien Cognon born to be alive in Singapore for mega party 40 years later, check it out.
December 9 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first of only two human diseases that have been driven to extinction (rinderpest in 2011 being the other).
December 12
December 13 – The government of Canada falls in a non-confidence motion.
December 15 – The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki , The Castle of Cagliostro based on the manga series Lupin III is released in Japan.
December 21 – A ceasefire for Rhodesia is signed at London.
December 23 – The highest aerial tramway in Europe, the Klein Matterhorn , opens.
December 24
December 26 – In Rhodesia , 96 Patriotic Front guerrillas enter the capital Salisbury to monitor a ceasefire that begins December 28 .
Date unknown [ ]
Births [ ]
January [ ]
January 1
January 2 – Erica Hubbard , American actress
January 3
January 4 – Kevin Kuske , German Olympic bobsledder
January 6
January 7
January 8
January 9
January 10
Chris Smith , African-American rapper (Kris Kross)
James Lloyd, British actor
January 11 – Siti Nurhaliza , Malaysian singer
January 12
January 14 – Angela Lindvall , American model
January 15
January 16 – Aaliyah , American R&B singer and actress (d. 2001 )
January 17 – Sharon Chan , Hong Kong actress
January 18
January 19
January 20
January 21
January 23 – Larry Hughes , American basketball player
January 24 – Tatyana Ali , American actress
January 26 – Sara Rue , American actress
January 27
January 29
January 31 – Jenny Wolf , German speed skater
February [ ]
February 1
February 2
February 4 – Andrei Arlovski , Belarusian mixed martial artist
February 5 – Katie Brambley , Canadian distance freestyle swimmer
February 6 – David Dolníček , Czech ice hockey player
February 7
February 8
February 9
February 10 – Daryl Palumbo , American musician; who fronted bands, such as Glassjaw
February 11 – Brandy Norwood , African-American singer and actress
February 12
February 13
February 14 – Jocelyn Quivrin , French actor (d. 2009 )
February 15 – Gordon Shedden , Scottish race car driver
February 16
February 18 – Tyrone D. Burton, American actor
February 19
February 21
February 22 – Patrick Merrill , Canadian lacrosse player
February 23 – Maryke Hendrikse , Canadian voice actress
February 25 – László Bodnár , Hungarian footballer
February 26
February 28
March [ ]
March 3 – Jon Bailey , American voice actor
March 4
March 5
March 6 – Érik Bédard , Canadian pitcher
March 7
March 8
March 9
March 10 – Danny Pudi , American actor and comedian
March 11 – Benji Madden and Joel Madden , American musicians (Good Charlotte )
March 12 – Pete Doherty , British singer and guitarist (The Libertines , Babyshambles )
March 14
March 15
March 16 – Adriana Fonseca , Mexican actress and dancer.[17]
March 17 – Samoa Joe , American professional wrestler
March 18
March 19
March 20
March 21 – Jimenez Lai , American architect
March 23 – Bryan Fletcher , American football player
March 25
March 29 – Estela Giménez , Spanish gymnast
March 30
March 31 – Tanya Tate , English porn actress
April [ ]
May [ ]
May 1
May 2 – Jason Chimera , Canadian ice hockey player
May 3
May 4
May 5 – Vincent Kartheiser , American actor
May 6
May 8 – Wendy Armoko , Indonesian singer, actor, presenter and comedian
May 9
May 10
May 12 – Adrian Serioux , Canadian soccer player
May 13
May 14 – Urijah Faber , WEC Featherweight Champion
May 15
May 16 – Jessica Morris , American actress
May 18
May 19
20 May – Andrew Scheer , Canadian politician
May 21 – Sonja Vectomov , Czech-Finnish electronic musician and composer
May 22
May 23 – Rasual Butler American basketball player (d. 2018 )
May 24
May 25 – Jonny Wilkinson , English rugby union player
May 26
May 27 – Michael Buonauro , American comic creator
May 28 – Jesse Bradford , American actor
May 29 – Brian Kendrick , American wrestler
May 30
June [ ]
June 1
June 2
June 5
June 6 – Shanda Sharer , American murder victim (d. 1992 )
June 7
June 8
June 9 – Émilie Loit , French tennis player
June 10 – Lee Brice , American country music singer-songwriter
June 11 – Preslaysa Edwards , American actress
June 12
June 13
June 14
June 15 – Yulia Nestsiarenka , Belarusian athlete
June 16 – Ari Hest , American singer-songwriter
June 17 – Young Maylay , American actor, record producer and rapper
June 18
June 19
June 21
June 22
June 23
June 24
June 25
June 26
June 27
June 28
June 29
June 30
Rick Gonzalez , American actor
Ed Kavalee , Australian comedian, actor, radio and television host
Faisal Shahzad , Pakistani-American bomber
Matisyahu , Jewish American reggae vocalist, beatboxer and alternative rock musician
Nelson Lucas , Seychellois sprinter
Christopher Jacot , Canadian actor
Andy Burrows , English songwriter and musician
July [ ]
August [ ]
August 1
August 3
August 4 – Patryk Dominik Sztyber , Polish rock musician
August 5 – David Healy , Northern Irish footballer
August 7 – Miguel Llera , Spanish footballer
August 10
August 11
August 12
August 13 – Taizō Sugimura , Japanese politician
August 15
August 16
August 19 – Oumar Kondé , Swiss footballer
August 20 – Jamie Cullum , English jazz pianist and singer
August 22 – Matt Walters , American football player
August 23 – Ritchie Neville , English singer (5ive )
August 24 – Elva Hsiao , Taiwanese singer
August 25 – Andrew Hussie , American artist
August 26
August 27
August 28
August 29 – Justine Pasek , Miss Universe 2002
August 30
August 31
September [ ]
September 1 – Neg Dupree , British comedian
September 2
September 3 – Júlio César , Brazilian football goalkeeper
September 4 – Maxim Afinogenov , Russian ice hockey player
September 5
September 6 – Ned Collette , Australian singer and musician
September 8 – Pink , American singer and actress
September 10 – Mustis , Norwegian pianist
September 11
September 12 – Jay McGraw , American author, son of TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw
September 13 – Ivan Miljković , Serbian volleyball player
September 14
September 15
September 16
September 17
September 18 – Alison Lohman , American actress
September 19 – Noémie Lenoir , French supermodel
September 20 – David Long , New Zealand musician
September 22 – Jericho Rosales , Filipino actor
September 23 – Lote Tuqiri , Australian rugby union player
September 24
September 25
September 26
September 27 – Shinji Ono , Japanese football player
September 28
September 29
September 30
October [ ]
October 1
October 2 – Brianna Brown , American actress
October 3
October 4
October 5 – Gao Yuanyuan , Chinese actress
October 7
October 8 – Kristanna Loken , American actress and model
October 9
Csézy , Hungarian singer
Vernon Fox , American football player
Alex Greenwald , American singer-songwriter, producer and actor (Phantom Planet and JJAMZ )
Todd Kelly , Australian race car driver
Chris O'Dowd , Irish actor and comedian
DJ Rashad , Chicago-based electronic musician, producer and DJ (d. 2014 )
Hendrik Odendaal , South African swimmer
Brandon Routh , American actor
Gonzalo Sorondo , Uruguayan footballer
October 10
October 11
October 13
October 14 – Stacy Keibler , American actress and model
October 15 – Jaci Velasquez , American Christian singer
October 16 – Erin Brown , American actress
October 17 – Kimi Räikkönen , Finnish 2007 Formula 1 world champion
October 18 – Ne-Yo , African-American singer and songwriter
October 19 – Marc Elliott , British actor
October 20
October 23 – Jorge Solís , Mexican professional boxer
October 25 – Sarah Thompson , American actress
October 26 – Jonathan Chase , American actor
October 28
October 30 – Yukie Nakama , Japanese actress
November [ ]
November 1
November 2 – Erika Flores , American actress
November 3
November 4 – Audrey Hollander , American porn actress
November 5 – Tarek Boudali , French actor
November 6
November 7 – Jon Peter Lewis , American singer and songwriter
November 8
November 9
November 12
November 13
November 14
November 17 – Matthew Spring , English footballer
November 18 – Neeti Mohan , Indian playback singer
November 19
November 20 – Ericson Alexander Molano , Colombian gospel singer
November 21 – Kim Dong-wan , South Korean singer and actor
November 22
November 23
November 25 – Joel Kinnaman , Swedish-American actor
November 27
November 28
November 29 – Jayceon Taylor , American rapper (The Game )
November 30 – Diego Klattenhoff , Canadian actor
December [ ]
December 2
December 3
December 7
December 8 – Ingrid Michaelson , American indie pop singer-songwriter
December 9 – Olivia Lufkin , English-Japanese singer, songwriter
December 10 – Keiko Nemoto , Japanese voice actress
December 11 – Rider Strong , American actor, director, voice actor, producer and screenwriter
December 12 – Emin Agalarov , Azerbaijani-Russian singer-songwriter and businessman
December 14
December 15
December 16
December 17
December 18 – Amy Grabow , American actress
December 19
December 22
December 23
December 25 – Ferman Akgül , vocalist of Turkish nu-metal band maNga
December 26
December 27 – Carson Palmer , American football player
December 28
December 30
December 31
Deaths [ ]
January [ ]
January 3 – Conrad Hilton , American hotelier (b. 1887 )
January 4 – Vincent Korda , Hungarian art director (b. 1897 )
January 4 – Peter Frankenfeld , German comedian, radio and television personality (b. 1913 )
January 5
January 7 – Wallace Townsend , American lawyer and politician (b. 1882 )
January 11 – Jack Soo , Japanese-born American actor (b. 1917 )
January 13 – Donny Hathaway , American musician (b. 1945 )
January 14 – Thomas DeSimone , American gangster (b. 1950 )
January 15 – Charles W. Morris , American philosopher and semiotician (b. 1901 )
January 16 – Ted Cassidy , American actor (b. 1932 )
January 18 – Maurice Challe , French general (b. 1905 )
January 19 – Tuffy Leemans , American football player (New York Giants ) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1912 )
January 22 – Ali Hassan Salameh , Palestinian Leader of Black September and mastermind of the 1972 Munich Massacre (b. 1940 )
January 26 – Nelson Rockefeller , Governor of New York, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908 )
January 28 – Glen Flanagan , American featherweight boxer (b. 1926 )
January 30 – Charles Watts , English cricketer (b. 1894 )
February [ ]
February 1 – Daniel Starch , American psychologist and marketing researcher (b. 1883 )
February 2
February 3 – Aaron Douglas , American painter (b. 1899 )
February 4 – Claude Massop , Jamaican gang leader of the Shower Posse Gang (b. c. 1949 )
February 5 – Reidar Waaler , Norwegian-born, American soldier for the United States Army (b. 1894 )
February 6 – Mary Bell , Australian aviator (b. 1903 )
February 7 – Josef Mengele , German officer and physician (b. 1911 )
February 8
February 12 – Jean Renoir , French film director and actor (b. 1894 )
February 14 – Reginald Maudling , British politician (b. 1917 )
February 17 – William Gargan , American actor (b. 1905 )
February 22 – Sigrid Schauman , Finnish painter (b. 1877 )
February 23 – W. A. C. Bennett , Canadian politician (b. 1900 )
February 25 – Henrich Focke , German aviation pioneer (b. 1890 )
February 27 – Hanns-Horst von Necker , German Generalmajor in the Nazi Luftwaffe (b. 1903 )
March [ ]
March 1
March 6 – Link Wasem , American baseball player (b. 1911 )
March 10 – William Boyd , Scottish-Canadian physician, pathologist, academic and author (b. 1885 )
March 11 – Victor Kilian , American actor (b. 1891 )
March 12 – Mashiur Rahman , former Senior Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1924 )
March 13 – Tudor Owen , English-American actor (b. 1898 )
March 14 – Robert William Wood , American landscape painter (b. 1889 )
March 15 – Léonide Massine , Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1896 )
March 16 – Thomas Aloysius Boland , American Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Newark (b. 1896 )
March 18 – Marjorie Daw , American actress (b. 1902 )
March 19 – Richard Beckinsale , British actor (b. 1947 )
March 22 – Ben Lyon , American actor (b. 1901 )
March 23 – Ted Anderson , English footballer (b. 1911 )
March 24 – Yvonne Mitchell , English actress (b. 1915 )
March 26 – Jean Stafford , American writer (b. 1915 )
March 28 – Emmett Kelly , American clown (b. 1898 )
March 29 – Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra , Sultan of Kelantan and 6th King of Malaysia (b. 1917 )
March 30
April [ ]
April 1 – Barbara Luddy , American actress (b. 1908 )
April 2 – Grace Fortescue , American socialite (b. 1883 )
April 4
April 6 – Ivan Vasilyov , Bulgarian architect (b. 1893 )
April 7
April 10 – Nino Rota , Italian composer (b. 1911 )
April 11
April 13 – Frankie Kelleher , American baseball player (b. 1916 )
April 14 – Clarence Dillon , American financier (b. 1882 )
April 15 – David Brand , Australian politician (b. 1912 )
April 17 – Chuck Osborne , American basketball player with Syracuse Nationals (b. 1939 )
April 18 – Jullan Kindahl , Swedish actress (b. 1885 )
April 19
April 20 – Peter Donald , British-born American actor (b. 1918 )
April 22 – Leslie Phillips , English cricketer (b. 1899 )
April 23 – Blair Peach , New Zealand-born, British teacher (b. 1946 )
April 24 – John Carroll , American actor (b. 1906 )
April 26 – Julia Bell , English human geneticist (b. 1879 )
April 28 – Norman Kilner , English cricketer (b. 1895 )
April 30 – Pan Halippa , Bessarabian and later Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1883 )
May [ ]
June [ ]
June 1
June 5 – Heinz Erhardt , German comedian, musician, entertainer, actor and poet (b. 1909 )
June 6 – Jack Haley , American actor (b. 1898 )
June 10 – Winifred Mary Ward , British language pathologist (b. 1884 )
June 11
June 13
June 20 – Bill Stewart , American journalist (b. 1941 )
June 22
June 23 – Cremilda de Oliveira , Portuguese actress (b. 1887 )
June 25 – Dave Fleischer , American animator (b. 1894 )
June 26
June 27 – Bande Ali Mia , Bangladeshi poet (b. 1906 )
June 30 – William B. Franke , 55th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1894 )
July [ ]
July 1
July 2 – Carlyle Smith Beals , Canadian astronomer (b. 1899 )
July 3 – Louis Durey , French composer (b. 1888 )
July 4
July 6
July 7 – Billy Dean Anderson , Notorious American criminal on "America's 10 Most Wanted" (b. 1934 )
July 8
July 9 – Roddy McMillan , Scottish actor (b. 1923 )
July 10 – Arthur Fiedler , American conductor (Boston Pops ) (b. 1894 )
July 11
July 12 – Minnie Riperton , American rhythm and blues singer (Lovin' You ) (b. 1947 )
July 13
July 14 – McGuire Twins ; One of the heaviest recorded twins by Guinness World Records , Billy died. (b. 1946 )
July 15
July 16 – Alfred Deller , English countertenor (b. 1912 )
July 17 – Edward Akufo-Addo , Ghanese politician and lawyer, 5th President of Ghana (b. 1906 )
July 18 – Pavel Prokkonen , Karelian Soviet politician (b. 1909 )
July 19 – Helen Bradley , English artist whose works depicted the Edwardian era (b. 1900 )
July 20
July 21
July 22
July 23 – Lefty West , American Major League Baseball player (b. 1915 )
July 24 – Archie Duncan , British actor (b. 1914 )
July 25 – Erich Pohlmann , Austrian character actor (b. 1913 )
July 26 – Stefan Wiechecki , Polish journalist (b. 1896 )
July 27 – Gustavo Cochet , Argentine painter and engraver (b. 1894 )
July 28 – George Seaton , American screenwriter and director (b. 1911 )
July 29
July 30 – Lew Kowarski , Russian-born, French physicist (b. 1907 )
July 31 – Beatrix Lehmann , British actress, theatre director and author (b. 1903 )
August [ ]
August 1 – Wayne Brenkert , American football player-coach (b. 1895 )
August 2 – Thurman Munson , American baseball player (b. 1947)
August 3 – Bertil Ohlin , Swedish economist and Liberal politician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (b. 1899 )
August 6 – Feodor Lynen , German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911 )
August 8
August 9 – Walter O'Malley , American baseball executive (b. 1903 )
August 10
August 16 – John Diefenbaker , 13th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895 )
August 18 – Draper Kauffman , American Naval pioneering underwater demolition expert (b. 1911 )
August 20 – Christian Dotremont , Belgian painter and writer (b. 1922 )
August 21 – Stuart Heisler , American film and television director (b. 1896 )
August 22 – James T. Farrell , American novelist (b. 1904 )
August 23 – Richard Hearne , English comedic actor (b. 1908 )
August 24
August 25 – Stan Kenton , American jazz pianist (b. 1911 )
August 26 – Alvin Karpis , American criminal (b. 1907 )
August 27 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma , British Viceroy of India (assassinated) (b. 1900 )
August 30 (body found on September 8 ) – Jean Seberg , American actress (b. 1938 )
August 31 – Sally Rand , American dancer (b. 1904 )
September [ ]
September 1
September 2 – Felix Aylmer , British actor (b. 1889 )
September 3
September 4 – Canuplin , Filipino magician and bodabil entertainer (b. 1904 )
September 5
September 6 – Guy Bolton , British playwright (b. 1884 )
September 7 – Alan Browning , English actor (b. 1926 )
September 8
September 9 – Norrie Paramor , British music producer (b. 1914 )
September 10 – Agostinho Neto , Angolan poet and politician, 1st President of Angola (b. 1922 )
September 11 – Laurie Banfield , English footballer (b. 1889 )
September 13 – Hap Ward , American baseball player (b. 1885 )
September 15 – Tommy Leonetti , American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1929 )
September 16
September 17 – Paul Maze , Anglo-French painter (b. 1887 )
September 18 – André Zeller , French army general (b. 1898 )
September 19
September 20
September 21
September 22
September 23 – Steve Brooks , American jockey (b. 1922 )
September 24 – Carl Laemmle Jr. , American film studio executive (b. 1908 )
September 25
September 26
September 27
September 28 – John Herbert Chapman , Canadian physicist (b. 1921 )
September 29
September 30 – Charles North , Australian attorney and politician (b. 1887 )
October [ ]
October 1 – Dorothy Arzner , American film director (b. 1897 )
October 2 – Ray Genet , American mountain climber (b. 1931 )
October 4 – Natwarsinhji Bhavsinhji , The Maharaja of Porbandar in India from (1908 –1948 ), and cricketer (b. 1901 )
October 5 – Ken Strong , American football player (New York Giants ) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1906 )
October 6 – Elizabeth Bishop , American poet (b. 1911 )
October 16 – Johan Borgen , Norwegian author (b. 1903 )
October 17
October 18
October 19 – Fritz Diez , German actor (b. 1901 )
October 22 – Nadia Boulanger , French composer and composition teacher (b. 1887 )
October 24 – Julio Porter , Argentine screenwriter (b. 1916 )
October 25
October 26
October 30
October 31 – Edvin Adolphson , Swedish actor and director (b. 1893 )
November [ ]
November 1
November 2
November 3 – Hugh P. Harris , United States Army general (b. 1909 )
November 4
November 5
November 6 – Chick Evans , American golf champion (b. 1890 )
November 7 – Gyula Germanus , professor of oriental studies, a Hungarian writer and Islamologist of Jewish origin (b. 1884 )
November 8
November 9
November 10 – Mahmud Al-Nashaf , Israeli-Arab politician (b. 1906 )
November 11 – Dimitri Tiomkin , Russian film composer (b. 1894 )
November 12 – Gavriil Veresov , Soviet chess player (b. 1912 )
November 13
November 14
November 15 – Ed Klieman , American baseball player; nicknamed, "Specs" (b. 1918 )
November 16 – Joseph Iglehart , American financier (b. 1891 )
November 17 – Immanuel Velikovsky , Russian author and psychiatrist (b. 1895 )
November 18
November 19 – Dewey Jackson Short , Republican U.S. Representative from Missouri (b. 1898 )
November 21
November 22
November 23
November 24 – Georg Pinkepank , German Nazi Korvettenkapitän with the Kriegsmarine during World War II (b. 1907 )
November 25 – John S. Crawford , American politician for the Wisconsin State Assembly (b. 1923 )
November 26 – Marcel L'Herbier , French movie-maker (b. 1888 )
November 27 – Jerome Cavanagh , American civic politician; Mayor of Detroit, Michigan , from (1962 –1970 ), especially what doomed his administration was the July, 1967 race riots (b. 1928 )
November 28 – Peter Mulgrew , New Zealand mountaineer, yachtsman, and businessman (b. 1927 )
November 30
December [ ]
December 1
December 2 – Helen Fraser , British suffragist, feminist and educationalist (b. 1881 )
December 3 – Dhyan Chand , Indian hockey player (b. 1905 )
December 4
December 5
December 7 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin , British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1900 )
December 8 – Nikolai Gritsenko , Soviet actor of Russian-Ukrainian background (b. 1912 )
December 9
December 10 – Ann Dvorak , American actress (b. 1911 )
December 12 – Alan Shipman , English cricketer (b. 1901 )
December 13 – Jon Hall , American actor (b. 1915 )
December 14 – Ken Leishman , Canadian criminal (b. 1931 )
December 15 – Ethel Lackie , American Olympic swimmer (b. 1907 )
December 16 – Vagif Mustafazadeh , Azerbaijani jazz musician (b. 1940 )
December 17 – A. J. Iversen , Danish cabinetmaker (b. 1888 )
December 18
December 19 – Donald Creighton , Canadian historian (b. 1902 )
December 21 – Ermindo Onega , Argentine footballer (b. 1940 )
December 22 – Darryl F. Zanuck , American film producer (b. 1902 )
December 23
December 24
December 25
December 26
December 27
December 28
December 29
December 30 – Richard Rodgers , American composer (b. 1902 )
December 31 – John A. Powers , American public affairs officer for NASA (b. 1922 )
Date unknown [ ]
Nobel Prizes [ ]
Media [ ]
The Doctor Who story City of Death is set in 1979, its year of broadcast.
The events of the 2011 science fiction film Super 8 take place during the winter and summer of 1979.
References [ ]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1979 .
^ "Total Eclipse of the Sun: 1979 February 26" . HM Nautical Almanac Office . April 11, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2013 .
^ "1979: Three die in Golborne mine blast" . On This Day . BBC. Retrieved March 18, 2013 .
^ "1979: Early election as Callaghan defeated" . On This Day . BBC. Retrieved March 18, 2013 .
^ "1979: Thatcher wins Tory landslide" . Election 2005 . BBC News. April 5, 2005. Retrieved March 18, 2013 .
^ a b Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices: South Africa: Heads of State: 1961–1994 . Accessed 14 April 2017.
^ "1979: Queen oversees Manx millennium" . On This Day . BBC. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2008 .
^ Annette R. Hofmann. Turnen and Sport . Waxmann Verlag. p. 224. ISBN 978-3-8309-6381-3 .
^ Limbrick, Jim (2001). North Sea Divers – a Requiem . Hertford: Authors OnLine. pp. 160–162. ISBN 0 7552 0036 5 .
^ Smart, Michael (2011). Into the Lion's Mouth: The Story of the Wildrake Diving Accident . Medford, Oregon : Lion's Mouth Publishing. ISBN 978-0-615-52838-0 .
^ "US Marine Corps" . Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved March 3, 2016 .
^ "U.S. fast food hits Singapore" . The Telegraph . October 8, 1980. Retrieved November 13, 2014 .
^ "Singapore's Orchard Road: You Can Shop Until You Drop" . Daily News . April 11, 1990. Retrieved November 13, 2014 .
^ "1979: Paperboy's killers convicted" . On This Day . BBC. Retrieved March 18, 2013 .
^ "False Alarms on the Nuclear Front" . Pbs.org. May 3, 2001. Retrieved April 29, 2014 .
^ Tendler, Stewart; Bradley, Ian (November 16, 1979). "Professor Blunt named as spy". The Times (60476). London. p. 1.
^ Mr. Anthony Blunt . Hansard HC Deb (November 21, 1979) 974 /402-520.
^ "Adriana Fonseca participará en Tiempo final" . El Universal (in Spanish). March 15, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2010 .
^ "Darren Trumeter" . IMDb .
^ "Michelle Vieth" , Las Noticias Mexico.com (in Spanish), retrieved August 24, 2019
^ "Gustavo Díaz Ordaz" (in Spanish). Busca Biografias. Retrieved May 30, 2019 .
Further reading [ ]
Caryl, Christian, Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century (2013), 1979 as worldwide turning point; excerpt and text search
Facts on File. Facts on File Yearbook: 1979 (1980) weekly factual report on events worldwide.
Hodson, H.V. Annual Register of World Events 1979 (1980), in-depth coverage of major countries
Paxton, John, ed. Statesman's Yearbook 1978–1979 (1980), statistical details on all countries