1979 Calendar

January 28, 1979 – New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Earth Sheep in Chinese astrology.

January 29, 1979 – Brenda Spencer kills two people and wounds eight at the Grover Cleveland Elementary School shootings.

February 18, 1979 – Snow falls in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only time in recorded history.

February 22, 1979 – Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.

April 4, 1979 – President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

June 12, 1979 – Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.

July 15, 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his so-called “malaise” speech, where he characterizes the greatest threat to the country as “this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation” but in which he never uses the word malaise

November 15, 1979 – A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.

November 23, 1979 – In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

December 12, 1979 – Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.

February 7, 1979 – Nicola Campedelli, Italian footballer

March 30, 1979 – Norah Jones, American musician

April 17, 1979 – Sung Si Kyung, Korean singer

August 5, 1979 – David Healy, Northern Irish footballer

August 27, 1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian musician (Arcade Fire)

November 7, 1979 – Barney Harwood, English television presenter

November 27, 1979 – Shin Hyesung, Korean singer (Shinhwa)

December 3, 1979 – Tiffany Haddish, American dancer, comedian & actress

December 7, 1979 – Lampros Choutos, Greek footballer

December 28, 1979 – Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress